Staff file photo / Brian Yauger Mineral Ridge’s Nick Anderson fires a pitch during last season’s district title game against Kennedy.

Mineral Ridge returns seven of nine starters from last season’s league title team. Going into 2025, they have one major goal.

In the gym at Mineral Ridge High School, there’s a banner for each sport listing the league and district titles. The most recent league title came, obviously, last season. The program’s last district title however, came in 1943.

The Rams hope to add 2025 to both of those by the end of the season.

“These guys aren’t freshmen and sophomores anymore. There’s a leadership that they’ve kind of taken over, especially these juniors and seniors, they’ve taken complete leadership of the team,” Rams coach Anthony Ragozine said. “If you’re going to be any good, you have to have leadership, and these guys have really demonstrated that. I think just bringing a toughness about us to every game this year. Things aren’t always going to go your way. You just got to pump it out and play hard no matter what’s going on and be strong. I think that’s the thing that I think these guys are going to bring to the table this year, is we’re going to play a tough brand of baseball.”

That “tough brand of baseball” starts on the mound, where Mineral Ridge returns its top three arms this season.

Junior Xavier Klamer, sophomore Nick Anderson and senior Jack Gillie will all return to the mound this season.

Jackson Geddes will split time between first base and catching when Klamer is pitching. Andrew Gillie will play a lot of second base, and when not pitching, Jack Gillie will mostly play at third.

When not pitching, Anderson will play in right field, sharing time with fellow sophomores Brody Molina and Christian Dunlap. AJ Sandy and Justin Dailey are expected to fill the holes in left and centerfield, respectively.

At shortstop, Klamer and Dunlap will share the role. Expect to see quite a bit of Preston Kline as well.

While on the younger side, the lineup is not lacking in experience.

“Two of the seniors are going to be four year starters, and then all five juniors are going to be three-year starters this year. They’ve all gotten significant playing time when they were young,” Ragozine said. “Same with my sophomore class. They all got significant time last year as freshmen. We’re (somewhat) inexperienced, but yet, have a lot of varsity experience under our belt so far. It’s been good so far. These guys know what to do and how we go about things, so it’s been nice to have, like a veteran leadership coming into this year, especially with the juniors and seniors who’ve been there and have done it the last three or four years.”

With that experience comes a tougher schedule, and it gets tough for the Rams right from the get go. Mineral Ridge opens the season with one of the top-ranked teams in Division VI, Toronto. With games against Salem, Lakeview and LaBrae in the first two weeks of April, it’s going to be a battle. There’s no days off, including in the league.

Ragozine thinks the MVAC Scarlet Tier is the strongest it’s been in some time.

“I think the league is going to be the best that it’s been from top to bottom in a long time,” he said. “I’ve been coaching in this league, from my years at McDonald as an assistant to now, probably 10 years and I think, honestly, this is going to be the best the league has been top to bottom in a long time.”

Factor in a loaded district pool in Division VI, and the Rams will have a slugfest every time they step on the field, especially if they plan on going deep into the postseason.

With lofty goals, there needs to be a roster and a mentality to make it happen. Ragozine sees that with his group this season.

“Obviously they have talent. You could see that when they were (younger). It’s not talent I think that makes them special. I think it’s a family-type bond that they have, and the work ethic that they put in,” Ragozine said. “In November, we had 12 guys, three days a week lifting in November, all the way up until basketball season ended, and then we got the rest of our guys. I think they have a sense of purpose this year, that they feel that they can do something. I think they want to do something special this year. I think they want to leave their own legacy here, and I truly think that their mentality and work ethic is why they could do something special.

“I tell these guys all the time that they have potential, but potential doesn’t mean anything if you don’t put the work in. I think they’re really buying into working hard, and I think they want to as a group. I think they want to do something special this year, so you just have to play the games and see how that plays out.”

The Rams open the season on Saturday in Toronto.