ALTAMONT — There were a bunch of firsts for the Altamont baseball team this year.
First regional and sectional championship since 2019 and the first super-sectional and state trophy in program history. Head coach Alan Whitt wouldn't want to do it with any other group, either.
Twelve seniors led the team, though Whitt admitted that he was nervous coming into the campaign despite the amount of upperclassmen.
"We started off with 10 seniors in the fall, and normally, when you have that, they've got a lot of varsity playing experience. We had quite a few that didn't, just because of how big the class was before," Whitt said. "You're nervous about, 'OK. I'm pretty sure this kid's ready to step up,' or Riley Berg to play second base or Dillan (Elam) to take the No. 1 spot on the pitching staff.
"You kind of have those things in your head."
All those question marks and concerns were well worth it in the end.
The senior class of Berg, Elam, Clayton Arnold, Kaden Davis, Nathan Stuemke, Alec Jahraus, Ethan Robbins, Daniel McCammon, Aden McManaway, Eli Miller, Justin Magelitz and Kaidyn Miller left their mark with the program.
The year didn't start off too great, though.
Altamont opened the season rather sluggish, losing three of its first five games. The Indians dropped the first two games to Sullivan and Carlyle before defeating Casey-Westfield and Newton to move back to .500.
A 4-0 loss to Effingham pushed Altamont to 2-3, but winning soon came after.
The Indians strung together eight wins in nine games, with the only loss coming to St. Anthony by a score of 3-2.
From there, the Indians only dropped five more games until the postseason, with the seniors being at the forefront of it all.
"I don't care if it's 10, 12, five, or next year, it's going to be two (seniors), you have to have that constant leadership," Whitt said. "We can do as much or as little coaching as possible, but if you don't have those senior leaders to step up and run the team and keep the team going the way we want it to go, you're not going to win, I don't care how talented you are."
The class was more noticeable once the postseason rolled around.
Nathan Stuemke hit a solo home run and Dillan Elam pitched a gem in the regional championship game against North Clay — a 1-0 triumph.
Ethan Robbins came up with a go-ahead RBI against South Central in the sectional championship tilt and Eli Miller drew the game-winning walk and Kaidyn Miller hit a three-run home run and drove in four in the super-sectional victory.
Overall, this class will be sorely missed once next season rolls around.
Whitt is well aware of that, though, especially when it comes to the outfield.
"You look at our outfield with Eli (Miller), Kaden Davis and Clayton Arnold — sometimes Kaidyn Miller — I don't know if there was any better (outfield)," Whitt said. "'KD' went after every ball and made some spectacular plays and had the arm to throw people out at home; Eli, the same way. So, the outfield is what really worries me for next year. The infield, you got your two stalwarts in Keegan (Schultz) and Kade Milleville and there's some guys that have shown enough in practices and junior varsity games that the infield will be solid.
"But, trying to recoup all that talent that was out there and the at-bats and all the innings pitched, we got our work cut out for us."
Of the seniors, two that stood out were Davis and Kaidyn Miller.
Davis was second on the team in batting average at .341.
He also had a .439 on-base percentage, a .397 slugging percentage, 43 hits, 31 runs scored and 18 stolen bases from the leadoff spot.
"You saw a maturity with Kaden Davis in the fall. I think, years before, he put pressure on himself because he felt like he had to prove he could get out there," Whitt said. "When we gave him this spot in the fall, it was another one of those things where he could relax and play baseball and, boy, did he ever."
Kaidyn Miller led the team with a .351 batting average.
To go along with that, he also had a .488 on-base percentage, a .532 slugging percentage and 26 RBIs.
"Wherever he ends up going to college and playing, they're going to be shocked," Whitt said. "I keep trying to tell all these coaches I've never had a kid that averages 88-95 exit velocity off the bat in practice."
Altamont ended the year with five players with over 100 plate appearances finish with batting averages above .300. Milleville — a sophom*ore — had 91 plate appearances and batted .316.
Schultz — a junior — batted .336 with a .450 on-base percentage and a .584 slugging percentage.
Whitt believes he finally settled down once he found a permanent place on the field each game.
"Keegan came into his own when we found the right defensive position for him, which was first base," Whitt said. "His stats are so misleading as far as the spring goes because we had him in positions we shouldn't have had him in. We had him playing short; second, we tried him at third and when Keegan went to first, that solidified our defense as much as anything because he was over there picking balls, making sure that nothing got by him.
"I think that made him a lot more comfortable at the plate."
