Mar 15, 2025
Staff file photo / Preston Byers. Austintown Fitch’s Carter Owens gets ready for a pitch while batting during a game last season.
AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Fitch baseball team got back on track last season, going 17-9. But with a dozen seniors departing, it’s up to the next crop of upperclassmen to make sure the program takes another step in the right direction.
The Falcons took advantage of the recent warm weather and got time on the field on Thursday, another practice closer to the start of the season.
“I expect us to improve from what we did last year,” Falcons head coach Joe Paris said. “A lot of guys back. We did lose some seniors that were very valuable to us, but we got a lot of good young kids that are gonna fill those spots. And with the seniors that we have back, hopefully our pitching staff holds up and they show some leadership and we do well.”
Fitch went 11-9 in 2023, but the Falcons had a deep senior group last year. They helped lead Fitch to a first-round bye in the Division I district tournament, but fell to GlenOak in the sectional finals.
Despite losing 12 players from last year, the Falcons still retain seven players who saw significant time in 2024.
Three of those seniors will pitch.
Wright State commit Mason Petridis will lead the rotation after dealing with injuries last spring. Carter Owens will hold down another spot in the rotation, and Anthony Wibert and junior Jaden Wallace will also get significant innings on the mound.
“The top of our rotation, if we stay healthy, will be as good as anybody around,” Paris said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Defensively, Paris said the strength of his squad will be up the middle. Owens flashed the glove at shortstop during practice Thursday, and his middle infield mate, Frank Senediak, also brings plenty of experience at second base.
“In my opinion, we have the best double-play combination around,” Paris said.
Paris is trying to nail down his outfield, with center and rightfield open for competition in the preseason.
Offensively, the Falcons have a strong top half of the lineup.
Senediak will lead off for a second straight season. Senediak, who Paris referred to as “the straw that stirs the drink,” will be followed by Owens.
Seton Hill commit Jackson Cheeks will be third in the order, Petridis will hit clean-up and Rocco DiFlorio will bat fifth. From that point, the rest of the lineup is open for competition.
“(The younger players) have to fill in those spots, so those spots are still up for grabs,” Paris said.
Just like this winter in basketball, the baseball divisions are also expanding from four to seven. Paris said this could help the Falcons make a deeper playoff run come the middle of May.
Paris also said the expanded divisions will allow for more rest between games. That will provide more time for his pitching to recuperate during the most important part of the season.
“We want to win the league,” Paris said. “We won it last year. We tied with Canfield, and we want to defend our title. That’s probably our first and foremost goal, and we want to get deep into the tournament if we can.
“We got to districts a couple times and we ran into Walsh — they’re a buzzsaw. We really just want to see where we can go. Hopefully our pitching staff takes us there.”
The Falcons will have a good test off the bat. They open the season at home with South Range on March 28. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
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