Seth Witt leads Comets

Genoa baseball returns 12 letter winners from a team that went 14-8 in 2019.

They include junior first baseman and pitcher Seth Witt, who was first team All-NBC as a freshman.

Seniors joining Witt include second baseman and pitcher Joey Large, third basemen and pitchers Jacob Emerson and Cole Nissen, catcher and first baseman Tommy Giles, outfielders Zack Buhrow and Devin D’Emilio and outfielder and catcher Connor Lagrange. Large has already committed to playing at Defiance College next year.

“All have experience and made strides in the limited amount of play in 2020 with their summer teams,” coach Gary Nissen said.

Other key contributors include junior pitcher Will Nissen and sophomore outfielder and pitcher Robert Messenger. 

Witt was 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA and Emerson was 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA on the mound. At the plate, Witt batted .308 (20 for 65) with five runs, four doubles, 15 RBIs, 15 walks, eight strikeouts, a .432 on-base percentage and he was .964 fielding.

Coach Nissen expects Witt, Large, Emerson, D’Emilion and A.J. Rubeis to lead the team at the plate. Leading the pitching staff will be Witt, Emerson, Cole Nissen, Rubeis and Will Nissen.

Coach Nissen says his team needs to be “consistently scoring runs” if they want to compete in the Northern Buckeye Conference, but he has little idea where the bulk of the talent resides in the NBC.

“This is a very competitive NBC this year and to predict a finish will be extremely difficult since we did not have a 2020 season,” Nissen said.

The Comets have gotten off to a good start at the plate, belting out 16 hits in an 18-7 win over Northwood. Emerson had a triple and Messenger and Witt had two doubles each. Rubeis was the winning pitcher, striking out eight, walking one and allowing six hits and four earned runs in six innings. The Comets scored eight runs in the first inning.

This is Gary Nissen’s 12th year, and in two separate stints, he has accumulated an 161-79 record, won two Suburban Lakes League titles, three district titles, and one regional title that led to a state final four appearance. In 2000, he was named Ohio’s Division III Coach of the Year.