As the Spring season is upon us, what better way to start it than with Urbana High school baseball. Despite the mercy-rule loss to their biggest foes and defending state champion Sherwood Warriors. The squad led by Coach Mike Frownfelter, along with former football senior star athletes Keegan Johnson and Riley Smith, have serious aspirations to make a run at the state title this season. The hawks opened against defending state champions and bitter rivals in the Sherwood Warriors and it’s safe to say that it was not a game to remember. The warriors who were thought to once again be the only team in the Hawks’ way of a state title had their number, in a 13-2 rout. Senior pitcher Keegan Johnson said, “It really humbled us- it got Eli (Derossi) to lock in and he’s been perfect since”.

Eli Derossi who had lots of confidence going into the season had a disappointing debut for his standards. “It made me realize that I just need to stay within myself, I have been able to overcome that game because I realized the next day is a new one and we just need to keep improving as a team”.

The Hawks have been able to rebound since then, however, sitting at 9-2 on the season with wins against teams like Walkersville, Linganore and Oakdale. Senior catcher Andrew Purcell said, “Our chemistry has only gotten stronger. Over the offseason, we built our team chemistry through practices and lifts, but being able to play everyday in season has only strengthened our relationships with one another”. 

Keegan also mentioned the offense’s performance has tanked with the loss of the class of 2022 graduates. Since his mentioning of the struggles, the Hawks completely flipped the script for themselves. In the first five games of the season the Hawks were able to only amass a measly fourteen runs. However in their last six games they have now quintupled that with 70 runs! The defense for the Hawks is staying solid as well, allowing an average of 2.9 runs per game.

Senior second baseman Riley Smith said, “the Linganore game went well and showed us the potential we have in our bags”. That’s where the switch clicked for the Hawks’ season.

Collectively the team is looking forward to playing the Churchill Bulldogs on May 3rd along with their senior night matchup against the Frederick Cadets two days prior. But obviously most of all, the Hawks are dead set on making a deep playoff run. The Hawks have rebounded and they’re confident.

Andrew’s personal description of the season so far has been “Patience, Improvement, Success”. 

Fortunately, it seems like the Hawks rollercoaster season is trending in the right direction.