The bison boys baseball team has a 4-2 record at publication.

Despite the weather and a fairly young roster, the Bison won their first game 7-3 over the Badger Braves, an early sign of the team’s strength and ability. Next, Independence, another CVC contender, snagged two victories against the Bison with final scores of 2-9 and 0-11, maintaining its rivalry after last year’s competitive season.

Varsity Coach Todd Butler and senior third baseman Sam Diamond both view Independence as the Bison’s biggest rival this season.

The team redeemed these defeats with a victory against the Brooklyn Hurricanes. In a tight game, the Bison emerged with a 13-12 victory. On Apr. 16, the Bison took on The Hawken Hawks resulting in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. The game was completed on Apr. 17 as Beachwood clinched an 8-7 victory. The teams then played a second game, resulting in a 6-5 victory for the Bison.

Bison head coach Todd Butler has been coaching baseball for sixteen seasons. This season he is assisted by Joe Leonette and Dallas Puskar. Butler acknowledges that the team faces some challenges this season.

“We’re finding an identity,” he said. “That’s what this year is about. We’re trying to get the young guys to step up and we’re trying to find some leadership in the older guys. Being in the gym until April, it’s difficult to be a baseball team. Now that we’re outside, it’s easier to see the team as a whole.”

The Bison is an extremely young team. Having graduated seven starters last year, the team must step up and reestablish itself.

“We don’t have the same amount of talent than we used to have,” said Diamond, who has played baseball all four years of high school.”We’re pretty young too. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team.”

“A lot of the kids in my grade have gotten a lot better since they were freshmen,” Diamond said.

Both Butler and Diamond see potential in the young team.

“They work hard in practice,” Butler said. “Brooklyn taught us that we don’t give up. They are good contact hitters, they put the ball in play… We also have a strong defensive outfield.”

“We have a lot of speed,” Diamond said. “We’re a fast team and we’re resilient. We came back from a couple deficits this year. It’s hard when you’ve been cooped up in the gym all winter. We’ve been having some pretty tough practices to help us get our minds in the game. This has been a test of focus.”

Butler and the coaching staff are working on team unity.

“We need to learn how to function holistically as a team,” Butler said. “Everyone should be able to go out every single day and give it their all for the team. The goal is to continually function as a unit. It’s easy to play for yourself and get caught up in your own stats, but we want them to learn that you’re there for your team members first.”

Key players who are expected to see the most time on the field include junior Max Balazs on the mound and at shortstop, sophomore Shawn May in left field, senior Adam Moss in center field, freshman Josh Bialosky on the mound, junior Matt Komich at third base,and sophomore Charles Colson on the mound.

The Bison are currently down a few players due to injury including Colson, out with a  shoulder injury, senior Josh Blaustein with a knee injury and senior captain Sammy Gross with a fractured foot.

Butler and the coaching staff have set high goals for the season, hoping to improve from their 17-6 season last year.

“We’re still learning,” Butler said. “We showed a lot of competitiveness against Brooklyn and Badger. We’re learning how to become competitive for 21 outs.”