LIMA — Ready or not, the Lima Locos are set to open the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL) season today in a road contest against the Irish Hills Leprechauns and manager Chad Ehrnsberger is more on the “not” side of things.
But the Locos skipper, who enters his fourth year at the helm, knows this is to expected. As late as Monday, players were still finishing out their college seasons and others were still in classes.
“It happens every year, and that is part of the problem of getting good players from good, high quality programs is that they are going to be playing deep in the NCAA tournaments,” Ehrnsberger said. “It is always a struggle in the first couple weeks of the season but I am happy with the guys we have here so I am ready to go into battle with the guys we have here.”
Steve Meyer, the Locos general manager, along with Ehrnsberger have built a team that is primarily made of up players from Ohio schools such as Bowling Green, University of Findlay, Toledo and Ohio State. But there also players on the roster coming from as far south as Florida and as far west as California.
Ehrnberger said the team is still waiting for six position players to arrive in Lima.
With the bulk of the players having already arrived and two exhibition contests under their belt, Ehrnesberger said he is pleased with what he has seen early and he gotten a small peek into what his everyday batting order or starting lineup might be but for now he will be taking a look to see who fits where and why.
The same holds true for the pitching staff. Fifteen hurlers make out the Locos arsenal of arms.
“I want to see good attitudes and a good work ethic,” the Locos manager said. “Guys that are just happy to be here. That is what I want to see this first week. A lot of guys have been playing all spring and a lot of it when it comes to success in summer ball is how bad do they want to be here and do they want to get better. Those things are just want I expect out of my players in the summer.”
Bad performances at the plate, errors and bad outings by pitchers are going to happen throughout the first half of the season and Ehrnsberger said that is to be expected so he is not going to make snap judgments based on what occurs in the first month.
“What our lineup is going to be tomorrow could be completely different in a week,” Ehrnsberger said. “Everybody that Steve (Meyer) and I have put together we are confident in. Whether it is the nine guys we have right now or the 14 or 15 we have in a week or two from now we are confident. I am going to expect to win whether we have a full team or not.”
One thing that Ehrnsberger has no control over is team chemistry. Last year he said the team clicked immediately and he is hoping it happens again this year but that is up to the players. He did add that some of the players already know each other, especially the ones from the Buckeye state, due to playing against each other in high school and college.
Fans will recognize some of the local talent who will play for the Locos this year and they are Tyler Anderson, a Shawnee graduate who pitches for Bowling Green and Brad Croy, another Falcon from Ottawa-Glandorf. Also on the roster are Connor Curlis, a Findlay product who pitched for Ohio State and Findlay’s Colin Gossard who played for Bath. Ohio Wesleyan’s Colin Stolly, a Lima Central Catholic graduate, returns for another season with the Locos.
Coming off winning the GLSCL championship last year, Ehrnsberger understands what it takes to win and he is optimistic this collection of players can come together and give the Locos consecutive league titles.
“Knowing what it takes and making it happen is two different things,” he said. “I’m here just to help out. I played a long time I have coached for a while so I think I have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen so I’ll just do my best to get the guys to buy in and hopefully at the end of the summer we are champions again.”
Renovations continue at Simmons Field
The Lima Locos, in conjunction with the city of Lima, continue additional renovations at Simmons Field to help make the facility more fan friendly.
The lastest project is the construction of a two-tiered deck along the left field line to provide more seating for the facility which averages around 600 fans a game.
Ric Stolly, Lima’s Parks and Recreation Director, said this is an ongoing project that will also see a new blacktop behind the dugouts. Already added this year was new outfield fencing and new bullpens.
“This is a very fluid project that is economically driven and we hope to have to done this season,” Stolley said.
Council on Monday approved a gift of $25,000 from the Lima Locos to help fund the projects at Simmons Field.
Stolly said this is an ongoing private-public endeavor that helps benefit Lima.
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