A new season of Washington Demon baseball begins tonight when Washington hosts Highland, and you catch all the action on KCII. The Demons are looking for a turnaround season this summer, as only four wins in 2023 means they have just a combined 10 victories across the last two years.

While they try to replace last season’s top hitters in Ethan Patterson and Isaac Vetter, Washington will be looking to its two seniors to lead the lineup. Luke Beenblossom had a .241 batting average last summer but led the team with 17 runs scored and came up with six doubles, a home run and 12 runs batted in.

Catcher Caleb Zieglowsky has also proven to be a force with the bat, hitting .243 with a team-high 14 RBI in 2023. Demons head coach TJ Rausch tells KCII Sports that his team has been working to improve their scoring output as a whole to flip some close games from last year.

“Our tale of last season was [that] the offensive production just wasn’t quite there,” Rausch says. “Pitching-wise, we kept ourselves in games. Defensive-wise, when the ball was put in play, we were making plays behind our pitchers. I think we had a total of 15 to 17 games where we were within three runs or less. We’re in a lot of games that we’re playing, [we are] just waiting to step up on the offensive end.”

Along with more runs on the board, Washington will be trying to rein in the opponent’s scoring after their pitchers had a combined earned-run average of over six–and-a-half. Junior right-hander Conner Leyden was second on the team in innings pitched last season and will lead the staff this summer.

The Demons will be facing a Highland team that lost its season opener Friday night against Mid-Prairie. The Huskies went 11-15 last season and feature a terrific top-of-the-order hitter in junior Will Dunbar, who batted .333 a season ago and had team highs of 21 runs scored and 34 stolen bases.

Highland won last season’s meeting with Washington 5-0, but the Demons had beaten the Huskies in six of the previous seven matchups. You can catch the season debut of Washington Demon baseball on 106.1 FM KCII and streaming on the KCII app and KCIIradio.com this evening, starting with the Roder Epoxy Pregame Show at 7.