After a disappointing 2021 season, Green Hope baseball is back, and the team is off to a blazing hot 4-0 start. Last year Green Hope had one of the most veteran teams in the state with thirteen seniors. This year Green Hope baseball is much younger with only one senior on the team. Nonetheless, they haven’t slowed down, and the team went on to win their first game twenty-three to zero.

Green Hope head Coach, Coach Miragliuolo who has been coaching baseball for over thirteen years and is a veteran of the sport, had this to say about coaching this younger group, “ We will be the youngest team in the conference for sure. We know where we stand, but we have good young players. Several could use more seasoning at the JV level, but they will be forced to sort of “learn on the job” this year at the varsity level.” When setting expectations Miragliolo kept his expectations low stating that, “there are a lot of unknowns right now”.

As of now, they’ve exceeded these expectations and have beat their first four opponents by a combined score of 54-4 including a dominant 15-1 win against Enloe yesterday. So far it’s been a group effort for Green Hope in terms of runs. Six athletes have over six runs on the season as sophomore Isaac Nitzkowski leads the way with eight runs through four games. While it’s been smooth sailing for our Falcons so far a challenge awaits them as they have Apex Friendship twice next week. Friendship currently stands at 3-1 and is only two spots behind Green Hope in Maxpreps’ top teams in North Carolina’s 4A East Division. Friendship’s roster hold’s fifteen seniors, a sharp contrast to Green Hope’s one, making their game Monday all the more interesting.

With their fifth game upcoming, we were able to check in with Green Hope Baseball’s lone senior, Dominick Rereich. Dominick credited their hot start to hard work as he stated “we’ve been working hard since last fall and it looks like it’s starting to pay off”. This hard work has been especially effective for Dominick as he ranks top three on the team in multiple stats including on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage. When asked about his role as the only senior on the team he hopes that he can, “be the best role model I can be so that when I leave, someone can take over that role with the same energy.” On the topic of energy Dominick said that while the team is on top right now, the team still has maintained an “underdog mentality”. Although the team may feel that way their success has thrust them into the opposite of that of an underdog, as the team is ranked within the top forty-three in the state and sixth in the east division for 4A.

Green Hope baseball is just getting started, and will continue to have plenty of success as they continue their winning ways.