The NOC Enid Jets Baseball team opens the season Thursday hosting Southeast Community College in a four game series concluding Friday.
Coach Raydon Leaton starts his 18th season at NOC Enid, a season he believes is full of promise.
"I like the progress we made over the fall," Leaton said. "Now it's all a matter of putting everything together."
The Jets return three regulars in 2018 including first baseman Matt Conerly (.322, 6 HR 40 RBI), left fielder Wesley O'Neill (.304, 3 HR 26 RBI) and right fielder Griffin Keller (.325, 6 HR 66 RBI). Leaton said that infielder Tyler Wood (.265, 9 RBI) and third baseman Rowdy Reihs (.250, 1 HR 7 RBI) are also penciled in the Jets line-up.
"We have a good nucleus of position players to build around," Leaton said. "What I like about our line-up is that we can score runs in many ways. We have some pop in the line-up but we can play small ball and manufacture runs when we need to."
On the mound, the Jets return #1 starter Kyler Patterson (6-3, 4.91 ERA, 73 K's). Penciled in as the #2 starter is Logan Carter (4-2, 6.98 ERA, 41K's). The rotation is completed with Cooper Harris and Braxton Douthit. The closer is Chris Hansen (1-1, 4.50 ERA, 2 Saves).
"I like our pitching staff a lot," Leaton said. "We are deeper on the mound with a number of quality arms. It always helps to have an ace and Kyler (Patterson) is that for us. He was on the mound last year in the Region Tournament Finals so he's pitched in big games before and we'll count on that experience this year."
"I'm anxious to get started," Leaton said before Thursday's opener. "We have a chance to have a really good ball club this year."
Leaton has 583 wins in his 17 years at NOC Enid.