<em>By BRAD BAUGHMAN, for The Democrat</em>

Randy Minniear, Brown County High School varsity baseball coach, carefully studied his roster, then looked up and said, “It’s been four or five years since a lot of them have played the game.”

Minniear took over the program last year, but like all other spring sports coaches, never had the chance to really ever establish any sort of rhythm at all before the 2020 season was canceled.

The lost season definitely took its toll.

“Our older kids haven’t played baseball in a competitive atmosphere and probably haven’t swung a bat, other than the three practices we had last spring,” Minniear said.

“So, we’re rusty.”

While he is painfully aware of his team’s obvious lack of experience, Minniear refuses to let that get him down, and instead points to two key traits he has already seen in his young squad: enthusiasm and desire. “We have a really good group of kids who are working extremely hard,” he said.

Because the Eagles have several players on the roster who have never even played baseball before, Minniear says there will be strong focus on teaching the basics of the game.

“So, we are going to start from scratch. They haven’t learned bad habits, so we can teach them the good habits,” he explained.

Short on experience, the Eagles are long on participation numbers, especially in the younger grades, which Minniear says bodes well for the future. The roster includes only two seniors, Travis Ely and Nolan Patterson. While both have played some summer league baseball, neither has ever taken the diamond for Brown County.

Minniear calls Ely “a very versatile player. He’ll pitch, he’ll catch and he’ll play some infield for us.” Patterson will also see time on the mound, and Minniear says he is “a fine, fine baseball player.”

Other players who should impact the lineup include junior outfielder Wanblee Roux, junior pitcher Eli Sichting, and junior pitcher/shortstop AJ Weis.

For the moment, Minniear will be trying to instill this simple philosophy in his players.

“We are here for three reasons: We are here to have fun, we are here to learn the game of baseball, and we are here to win. In that order.”

The second-year coach has his work cut out for him, but he likes the challenge and is realistic about what lies ahead for the Eagles.

“We are not going to be as competitive as we’d like to be," Minnear said, "but I do think we are going to get better and better."