The official start of baseball season was Monday, January 24. It was the start for not only the Varsity team but also the JV, 9th, and 8th grade teams. The varsity team will once again be led by last year’s catholic league head coach of the year, Andy Cannizaro. The team is also led by assistant coach Ryan Kamlade 04’ and Brett Bonura, '08. The JV and 9th grade teams will be coached by Ryan Kimberly 04’ and Jason Lisotta. The 8th grade team will be coached by Father-son duo Louis Wineski, ’77 and Paul Wineski, 03’. Last year the HC Varsity Baseball team finished with a record of 22-9 and won the first Catholic League championship in over 20 years. This year’s team started early in the Fall with conditioning led by OPT coach, Christian Bailey. The Tigers are a very young team this year having only 3 seniors on their roster. Although they are very young, they are loaded with talent and eager to compete for starting positions. “Losing 11 seniors is tough to replace, but there is no better time than now for our younger players to step up and perform. There's a lot of opportunities for guys this upcoming season and that’s exciting”, Kamlade says of the upcoming season.
The Tigers officially start the season off at Chalmette Monday, February 21 at 6:30 pm. The Tiger Park home opener will be Friday, February 25 vs Hahnville at 6:30 in the WGNO Classic. Last season Tiger Park underwent some major upgrades that drew record crowds. Additional upgrades are being done and hope to break those attendance records again. Tiger Park will host over 50 home games and welcome large numbers to the beautiful campus. The Den, which consists of the best student section in all of high school baseball, will be packed once again to cheer the Tigers on. Senior Edward Muhleisen comments, “I can’t wait for this upcoming season. We’ve all worked so hard since last year’s season ended and are looking forward to show everyone that our hard work has paid off.” The 2022 season will be extra special as every tiger will have “BK” embroidered on their hats. The BK stands for our beloved coach Bruce Kamlade who passed away this fall. He was not only a staple for Holy Cross but a valuable piece for the baseball program. Coach Bruce was a big believer in always carrying yourself as a Holy Cross Man. Players will take a piece of coach Bruce with them every time they step on the field.
The Holy Cross community is excited to get the season started and support another winning program that represents the blue and gold. Good luck to all of the baseball teams this year, and Go Tigers!
We are HC!