The Highland Huskies are rearing and ready to go as a new season of high school baseball is underway. Highland is coming off a 2023 campaign where they finished second place in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and won 11 games in total.

The Huskies will need to replace graduated pitcher Ethan Paisley, whose 1.02 earned-run average was fourth in the Super Conference North. Paisley also piled up over 100 strikeouts on the mound and led the team with a .358 batting average.

Fellow graduates Tyler Thompson and Peyton Yeggy are gone after leading the team with 20 and 17 runs batted in, respectively, and combining to hit over .260 with 10 doubles and two home runs. Highland will have back junior Will Dunbar, who batted .333 with team highs of 21 runs scored and 34 stolen bases.

While there are some young players like sophomore Bryce Hazelett and freshman Landon Roling back that have starting experience, new Huskies head coach Allen Rath tells KCII Sports that his team is very much still learning.

“We do have a good amount of people returning,” Rath says, “but we’re very young, so it’s a little bit of a double-edged sword. We have some good players, but they’re young.”

Hazelett and junior Colten Sypherd are the most experienced returning pitchers for Highland, which opened the season Friday night by taking on Mid-Prairie. Next up is a trip to Washington Monday. You can hear the Huskies take on the Demons on 106.1 FM KCII Monday night starting with the Roder Epoxy Pregame Show at 7 p.m.