Courtesy Photo The 2021 Alpena High baseball team includes: front row: Kaydin Budnik, Charlie Williams, Alex Cadarette and Everett Zann; back row: Kam Potter, Ashton Perrin, Ryan Ritter, Ryan Lee, Matt Thompson, Travis Weide, Keegan Hahn, Luke Tucker and Logan Momrik. Missing is Noah Marquardt.

ALPENA–Alpena High baseball coach Phil Schultz is preaching patience this season.

With a completely new team and players returning to the diamond for the first time in a year, Schultz knows his team is going to have to take small steps forward.

“I’m getting to learn them and they’re getting to learn me. We’ve got a solid group that works hard,” Schultz said. “We’re happy to get back out there because we had a bunch of kids that didn’t get a chance to play last year.”

The Wildcats are just two seasons removed from a Big North Conference crown, but all of those players have since graduated, leaving Schultz with a brand new roster to work with. Alpena’s roster includes: Kaydin Budnik, Charlie Williams, Alex Cadarette, Everett Zann, Kam Potter, Ashton Perrin, Ryan Ritter, Ryan Lee, Matt Thompson, Travis Weide, Keegan Hahn, Luke Tucker, Logan Momrik and Noah Marquardt.

Weide, Hahn, Potter, Thompson, Momrik and Lee are among those who will share time on the mound this season.

On offense, Thompson is penciled in at the top of Alpena’s order and Weide and Alex Cadarette are among Alpena’s other strong hitters. As the season goes on, Schultz hopes to see his team improve at the plate.

Though they’re just four games into the season, the Wildcats will be tested in short order with games scheduled at Midland Dow and against Cadillac, Gaylord and Midland coming up in the next week.

“We’re looking at the end result. We scheduled ourselves tough and we’ll see how it turns out,” Schultz said. “We’ve got a few dates so far and we’re hoping to develop and get better.”