On April first, the Berkley Bears varsity baseball team kicked off their 2025 campaign. With new coach Todd Dunfield at the helm, the Bears entered the season with high hopes and big goals. Their scheduled home opener against Troy High School was relocated due to field conditions. Last season, the Bears finished with an 18-16 record, with their season ending in districts against Troy. They hope to improve on their record from last season, and that starts with game one!
Early season April baseball can have its own challenges, with temperatures on the lower side compared to later in the season; it was a cool 37 degrees at first pitch. When the weather is colder, it makes it harder to hit the ball and throw as fast as usual.
“Cold weather was a main factor in our game yesterday. Everyone was trying to stay warm in between innings and out on the field, which added another layer to trying to win the game,” said sophomore Sam Sermo.
The Bears jumped out early, as in the top of the first inning they loaded the bases with zero outs. Unfortunately, the next three batters batted out to end the top half of the inning for the Bears, which was a huge missed opportunity. Senior Reed Reynolds, the starting pitcher, threw two scoreless innings to start, but the Colts first got on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI (run batted in) single to take a 1-0 lead. They later extended the lead in the next inning, with an RBI single to make it a 2-0 ballgame. When Reynolds exited the game after the fourth inning, junior Brayden Kubicki pitched two scoreless innings. In the seventh inning, the Bears’ final chance to take the lead or tie the game, they had a one-out walk but unfortunately did not score.
“First game of the season, of course, it’s not going to go perfectly. But I feel that we competed, and it was a competitive game. Still, there’s lots to work on, but it will be good because it’s a long season,” said Sermo. Adding onto having lots of work to improve on, sophomore Drew Sermo said, “Overall, we should improve on the energy in the dugout. We also could really improve on not leaving people on base and capitalizing and scoring them in.”
On the batting side for the Bears, they were led by seniors, Willem Allen and Spencer Bajcz, both going 1-3 in the game. Junior Alex Kraus also added a hit. The pitchers for the Bears, Reynolds and Kubicki, struck out a combined four batters and allowed 7 combined hits.
With the final score of 2-0 in favor of the Colts, the Bears dropped to 0-1 in the 2025 season. As this was their first clash with the Colts, they would have two more with them this season. As the Bears progress through their season, they hope to learn from their mistakes and to have a very successful season by not leaving runners on base and improving the dugout energy!
