Jackson baseball seeks elusive district title under new coach

The Jackson baseball team is itching to get the 2023 season going.

The Indians went 21-5 season last year that ended with a loss to Lindbergh in the Class 6 District 1 tournament. They have won at least 20 games in each of the past seven seasons but are looking for their first district championship since 2018.

Jackson will not see many major changes to the roster, but rather to the coaching staff.

First-year head coach Josh Roach will be taking the reins this spring. Roach is a former head softball coach at Jackson and has been an assistant coach in the baseball program before under a previous head coach, Bryan Austin. Roach said he is excited to jump into the situation.

“We have a lot of talent, something like that doesn’t happen all the time and a lot of the system has been developed really well,” Roach said. “It's just really exciting to walk into it and have this level of talent and be able to hopefully compete at a really high level.”

Jackson will be competing with some top competition in the state of Missouri this season, playing Class 6 private schools such as Christian Brothers College, DeSmet, and Vianney. Roach said not only did he want to make the schedule tough but the players also wanted to be challenged.

“We are going to be tested a lot this year. We have a lot of really high-level teams,” Roach said. “I spoke with the guys when I took the position to get an idea of what they wanted for the season. They wanted to be tested, they felt like they were ready for it so that's what we did.”

The Indians are loaded with veteran upperclassmen having a total of 12 seniors, eight of which are committed to playing at the next level. They are returning their entire infield and two outfielders. The only positions being replaced are some pitchers, an outfielder, and the catcher but Roach has the utmost confidence in who they have for replacements.

“[Kyle] Richardson was a phenomenal catcher back there last year but Baden Hackworth is gonna step into that role and he's a high-level guy too,” Roach said. “Pitching wise we definitely lost some arms but we’re also gaining some, guys with some experience like Caden [Bogenpohl] and JP [Sauer] are going to do some damage.”

The Indians begin their season at the Troy Baseball Classic against Ft. Zumwalt North on Friday, March 17.