Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Head coach: Gary Nissen, 15th year
Last year: 9-18 (3-11 NBC)
Key returning players: Alex Spencer (Sr., SS); Isaac Ewersen (Sr., 2B/C); Caleb Klatt (Sr., P); Toby Karl (Sr., OF)
Genoa returns a number of key contributors from last year's squad, inspiring hope to make some noise in a quest for a Northern Buckeye Conference title.
Gone from last year are Denver Stewart, Jagger Magnone and J.J. Hartman, who is pitching at the University of Findlay, but there are nine returning starters.
The rotation features Caleb Klatt (2-3, 3.25 ERA), Jaxon Magnone, Elijah Welling (1-1, 3.35 ERA), Hunter Reed and Evan Millner. Joel Gittus and Vinny Pasty are the relievers.
"We are deep," Genoa coach Gary Nissen said of his pitching staff. "We have a mix of experience and youth with the starters, and we hope to keep developing throughout the season."
Klatt is joined by three other seniors in shortstop Alex Spencer (.341, 1 HR, 17 RBIs, 27 R), second baseman/catcher Isaac Ewersen and outfielder Toby Karl.
Millner (.253, 14 RBIs), a junior, is an infielder when he's not pitching. Jaxon Magnone (.246, 14 R), whose father Jason was the starting catcher on Lake’s 2001 state semifinalist baseball team, plays catcher and is an infielder. Welling plays first base and could see some time in the outfield.
Nissen sees Spencer, Magnone and Welling as having the potential to do quite well this season and possibly surprise some people.
In the NBC, Lake was picked to win it after finishing as the Division III state runner-up last year. Eastwood, one of the top programs in Northwest Ohio, was picked to finish second, followed by Oak Harbor, Maumee, Otsego, Genoa, Rossford and Fostoria.
"We hope to get better every day in games and in practice, and compete in a very tough NBC," said Nissen, who has overseen some very good teams during his tenure as the coach of the Comets. "Our team was very young (last year), and we look forward to improving in all three phases of the game this season."
