Finishing 19-15 a season ago, reaching its fifth consecutive regional final in the process, an experienced Macomb High baseball team has lofty goals entering 2026.
The Bombers started 0-8 a season ago, but the team won 13 of its final 15 games before losing to Eureka. The Hornets ended up finishing third in the Class 2A State Finals.
After serving as an assistant last season, John Ogle moves into the head coaching position this season.
“I’ve seen these guys at baseball camps and everything growing up since they were 8, 9, 10 years old,” said Ogle. “These seniors I’ve been around since they were freshmen. That has definitely been huge for me (as a coach), just knowing these guys and knowing what they can do right away and not really having that learning curve of figuring it out.”
The Bombers bring back a number of experienced players.
Senior members include Drew Watson, who enters as a starter for his third year.
“He’ll be a huge piece obviously at the top of the lineup and playing shortstop,” said Ogle. “He’s just a gamer. He brings a lot of leadership, a lot of experience to the table.”
Also returning are Emmett Beck at first base and Isaac Leinbach in center field. In addition, Blaine Eddington and Jaxon Barclay look to be key contributors in the pitching department.
Drew Taylor rounds out the senior class for the Bombers.
As for juniors, Nick Elbe has started off strong, recording 11 hits in 13 at-bats in the team’s first three games.
He was also the team’s winning pitcher against Sherrard, allowing two runs in four innings, striking out five.
“He’s on a different planet right now. I don’t know how to describe him,” said Ogle. “He’s on a tear.”
Leighton Lambert is back at catcher as is Kaden Knupp in right field.
Sophomore Jake Ogle, the team’s designated hitter last season, played second base early on.
“The experience is huge,” said Coach Ogle. “They know what’s expected of them. They know what varsity baseball is about. The moment doesn’t really bother them. That’s always awesome to see.”
“You build that culture of winning, understanding how to get stuff done,” he added. “They trust each other to come through and to get the job done to win games.”
Varsity newcomers include Hayden Katz, Aiden Reynolds, Kollin Knupp, Nolan Kuracz, Gavin Livermore, Tyler Schulz and Sam Helling.
So what is Ogle looking for from the team?
“Offensively, we want to put pressure on the defense,” said Ogle. “We want to get baseballs in play and want to make teams have to field the baseball.”
“We want to limit our strikeouts and be able to bunt the ball,” he added. “We want to be able to move runners. We want to be aggressive on the basepaths, being able to steal some bags here and there when teams give them to us.”
“Defensively, its always just limiting free bases,” said Ogle. “Cutting down on the walks, cutting down on the errors, keeping baseballs in front, making teams earn every 90 feet, rather than giving it to them.”
As for goals and expectations, Ogle is looking for the team to focus on the here and now.
“The standard is high and the expectation is high,” said Ogle. “We don’t really get into down the road. We don’t talk about winning regional and doing those things. We try to stay as focused as we can on ‘What can we do today? How can we win today? How can we get better today?’” “Winning reps, winning innings, winning pitches. Staying focused on what we can control right now,” he added. “We can’t control winning a regional on March 26, but we can focus on winning March 26.”
“Obviously, we want to do those things down the road. That’s what we’re building towards,” said Ogle. “But right now we’re focused on what we can control in the present moment, what we can do right now to get to that point later in the year.”
