Paint Branch Baseball has not played a home game at Paint Branch High School in five full years. However, this year’s team will have the opportunity to play a baseball game at home as the new Paint Branch field opens.

While the field will not be ready for opening day, Coach Rey notes that it should – hopefully – be ready by the end of March. “It will be a huge advantage for us once we can get on the new field; it’s taking very long and getting old, but there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to wait for the county. Once we get it, I will be very excited to plan practice on it and so will the players as well as the community,” says coach Rey. The current Panthers have never had a real home-field advantage, so it is something they will look to take advantage of this year.

The Panthers are looking to improve on last season’s 10-10 record and first-round play-off loss.  While last year’s team relied on the pitching of seniors Timmy Hondros and Eric Lowe, this year’s team will be relying on experience, returning seven starters from last season. This group, made up of three seniors and four juniors, should provide a solid base for the Panthers. Juniors Steven Vanderzwet and TC Conrad, along with sophomore Bruce Pattishaw, look to fill in for the lost pitching the Panthers had last year.

Coach Rey, who has been the baseball coach at PB for 10 years, says, “I have a lot of excitement for this season. We have returning experience who has been working hard all off-season in the cages and fine-tuning their skill.” Returning captains junior Sam Stewart and senior Drew Jacobs look to guide the Panthers this year, with support from seniors JC Corkran and Gaston Cooper and also from Conrad. Pattishaw, one of the only sophomores on the team, who has played at a high-caliber level at shortstop thus far. This year is the year the team hopes to make a run at the state championship. Coach Rey and the whole team have high hopes for the season and are very excited to see what they can do.