BARKER — The Barker Raiders are battling not only other baseball and softball teams in 2012, but limited rosters as well.

Head coach Rob Mucha’s baseball team features just 10 players in 2012. Shannon McCracken’s Lady Raiders softball team is just one player better.

“I have a great group of young men — as dedicated and committed as I’ve ever had — all with big hearts,” Mucha said.

“But it’s tough with such low numbers. We’ve asked them to do a lot. We need three things, solid pitching, strong hitting and we need to make the routine plays. I know most teams will say that, but we can’t try to out-hit these bigger teams that we play.”

The Raiders (3-11 N-O last year) have opened their 2012 campaign with three non-league losses and two Niagara-Orleans League losses (Akron and CSAT). Despite their 0-5 start, Mucha is confident his team can turn things around as they resume their N-O slate next week with home contests against Royalton-Hartland (4:45 p.m. Tuesday) and Albion (4:45 p.m. Friday).

With heart, there’s always hope and among the players Mucha can count on this spring are key returning senior slugger Austin Blackley, senior left fielder Cody McKee, junior Tyler Gregoire, who was an All N-O Honorable Mention player last season, steady junior catcher Zach Shaft and junior pitcher/first baseman Josh Bergman.

And the future looks bright in shortstop Alonzo St. Louis and second baseman/pitcher Tim Flint, both sophomores.

“Alonzo has been playing well defensively for us and he can play catcher too,” Mucha said. “Tim gave me some playing time last year when we needed him on varsity. He’s young and small, but he knows the game and he works hard at it.”

Rounding out the Raiders roster are senior Spencer Moore, junior Joey Hinton and sophomores Jake Desmarais and Tim Flint.

“We’ve got some experience, but we’ve had a hard time defensively our last couple of games. We started out hitting poorly. Now we’ve got great bats, but our defense is hurting us,” Mucha said.

Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders are off to a 1-1 start this spring in the N-O, as coach McCracken returns most of his 2011 starters.

Among his top players are sibling big hitters, senior third baseman Allie Denny, sophomore catcher Olivia Denny and senior Stephanie Pyra.

In the circle, Barker is led by senior starting pitcher Destiny Metzler. Dani Senior starts at first base, while junior Sydney Webb is playing solid at shortstop. McCracken said he’s also looking for big things from juniors Kayla Moeller and Makendzi Strickland.

Rounding our Barker’s roster are senior Catherine Bergman, junior Rheanne Levy and freshman Destiny Hillman. 2012 captains are Allie Denny, Metzler, Pyra and Senior.

“If our defense plays as well as we think it can, we could do well,” McCracken said. The Lady Raiders finished a solid 7-7 in the N-O last year and were 9-9 overall.

Barker Baseball Roster

Austin Blackley    12

Codi McKee    12

Spencer Moore    12

Josh Bergman    11

Tyler Gregoire    11

Joey Hinton    11

Zach Shaft    11

Jake Desmarais    10

Tim Flint    10

Alonzo St. Louis    10



Barker Softball Roster

Catherine Bergman    12

Alexandra Denny    12

Destiny Metzler    12

Stephanie Pyra    12

Daniela Senior    12

Rheanne Levy    11

Kayla Moeller    11

Makendzi Strickland    11

Sydney Webb    11

Olivia Denny    10

Destiny Hillman    9



Barker Baseball Schedule

Thu.    1:00 p.m.    @ Lyndonville

Fri.    1:00 p.m.    KENDALL

Tue.    4:45 p.m.    ROY-HART

4/20    4:45 p.m.    WILSON

4/23    4:45 p.m.    ALBION

4/24    4:15 p.m.    @ CCA

4/26    4:45 p.m.    @ Newfane

4/28    4:00 p.m.    @ Medina (N-O Showcase)

5/1    4:45 p.m.    @ CSAT

5/4    4:45 p.m.    AKRON

5/7    4:45 p.m.    @ Roy-Hart

5/10    4:45 p.m.    @ Wilson

5/12    Noon    @ Albion

5/15    4:45 p.m.    NEWFANE

5/17    4:45 p.m.    MEDINA



Barker Softball Schedule

Thu.    4:00 p.m.    CCA

Fri.    4:00 p.m.    OAK-ALA

Sat.    9:30 a.m.    @ Alexander Tourney

Mon.    4:45 p.m.    NEWFANE

4/18    4:45 p.m.    ALBION

4/21    10 a.m.    R-H (@ Albion)

4/24    4:45 p.m.    WILSON

4/27    4:45 p.m.    @ Medina

4/30    4:45 p.m.    @ CSAT

5/2    4:45 p.m.    AKRON

5/5    3:00 p.m.    @ Newfane

5/8    4:45 p.m.    @ Albion

5/10    4:45 p.m.    ROY-HART

5/14    4:45 p.m.    @ Wilson

5/16    4:45 p.m.    MEDINA