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Talent-rich Urbana High School baseball looks toward the 2022 season
(Courtesy: @urbanabaseball/Twitter)

Talent-rich Urbana High School baseball looks toward the 2022 season

IJAMSVILLE, Md. — Urbana High School baseball saw their 2021 season end in the state quarterfinals, falling to the eventual state champion, Sherwood. Though there was disappointment that day, the season as a whole was another success for a historically strong program. The year served as a reassurance of some normalcy following a lost season in 2020.

High school baseball’s timing caused it and most other spring sports to be some of the sports hit the hardest by the pandemic, with most seasons being outright canceled. Many of the top potential recruits in baseball do a large amount of their development off the field. That being said, developments in teenagers is fickle and it is difficult for any athlete, regardless of age, to get back to game speed after a season off.

Luckily for the Hawks, 2021 brought with it a welcomed predictability. Their elite players were just that and many of the team’s key pieces will return for the 2022 season. Their eyes are not just on their own NCAA Division I bound careers, but on the state title they drew so close to with a similar team.

To address the negative, Urbana has lost a big chunk of its position players, good players, about half of which went to play in college at various levels. This loss left a hole in the middle of the infield that will need filled. There will also be holes throughout the batting lineup that need to be solved due to the graduation of seven seniors. These are all problems that Coach Mike Frownfelter will have to address in the coming months.

Now, on to the good news. Urbana is rife with top end talent, namely pitchers. Urbana had two of their pitchers, Brenden Yagesh (Class of 2022, committed to Mount Saint Mary’s) and Keegan Johnson (Class of 2023, Ball State), were named Preseason All-State by the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches.

Yagesh, though primarily a pitcher, brings a great deal of value on both sides of the ball and Prep Baseball Report referred to him as “a legitimate two-way threat at the next level.” Yagesh can positively clobber the ball.

Johnson has a deep pitching repertoire with a consistently strong fastball beyond his age. Add in sophomore Eli DeRossi, one of the stronger uncommitted pitchers in the state, and speedy centerfielder Riley Smith, and Urbana has a strong team with an incredibly high ceiling.

The sheer mass of talent in Urbana points toward success in the coming season. Looking at Urbana’s track record of success, region championships in 2004, 2010, 2015 and 2021, conference championships in 2000, 2007, 2010, 2017 and 2018, one could assume some degree of success. With those two factors combined? The expectations are sky high, and so is the likelihood of success.

This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.