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ILWACO — Pitching. Hitting. Speed. Experience.

The Ilwaco baseball team enters the 2024 season with a unique makeup that could culminate in state contention, led by a unique cast of nine seniors.

The Fishermen finished 14-7 last season, including a perfect 8-0 mark in the 2B Pacific League under third-year head coach Brett Hopkins. Ilwaco was eliminated in the first round of 2B state play last season, their second consecutive trip to the WIAA tournament in consecutive seasons, a program first.

Two players have since graduated from that successful run, including pitcher/first baseman Kaeden Lyster and outfielder Alex Hillard. Several experienced players return, however, including eight of nine starters.

The Fishermen have a remarkable 29 players on the roster this spring, including seven that landed on the all-league list last season, led by senior catcher Boston Caron, who swatted a district-best eight home runs on his way to being named league MVP.

Caron is joined by six other returning senior all-league honorees, including Jacob Rogers, Cannon Johnson, Ethan Hopkins, Derrick Cutting, Kaemon Sawa and Kyle Morris. Ilwaco head coach Bret Hopkins was named the league’s coach of the year in 2023 after guiding the team to a perfect 8-0 mark in league play.

Rising underclassmen

The stellar senior class will be bolstered by a rising group of underclassmen.

“We’ve got a really good freshmen group. We brought up a few eighth graders this year, it’s a new thing for us,” Hopkins said. “Haddox Hazen is a left-handed pitcher that’s really polished and well-composed for an eighth grader. He’s going to be a good one for us. Cody Kaino is going to be another good one, he’ll stand in there and take his cuts. Mark Ragan is great at the plate as well, which is kind of our trademark — what we do at the plate. We have a lot of guys that can hit the ball a long ways. The freshmen group is every bit as good, it’s just an intact group that’s been playing together forever, just like these seniors.”

The program will also have a junior varsity team this year, which Hopkins said could be a first for the school.

But it’s the senior-laden starting lineup that gives this team the chance to do something special.

“It’s that group of seniors,” Hopkins said regarding the strength of the team this season. “They’ve got so much experience, we’ve basically rolled over our starting lineup for the last three years. All these guys pretty much started their sophomore year, so we’re going on three years of having the same guys.”

With such a strong returning cast, Ilwaco is in the enviable spot of having only one open position.

“We lost one starting outfielder (Alex Hillard), that’s the only opening. Then we have a bunch of juniors that played quite a bit last year,” Hopkins said. “The competition is tough, which is nice. There was a time, when I started as an assistant, that we almost had to forfeit a game because we didn’t have nine kids eligible. Things have certainly changed.”

Ilwaco will also benefit from two new assistant coaches this season, Matt McKinstry and Ryan Cadwell.

The Fishermen, who have gone 16-1 in league play over the past two seasons, are again anticipated to be among the strongest squads in the nine-team 2B Pacific League.

“Ourselves,” Hopkins said when asked who will be the toughest opponent this season. “We can lose to ourselves. We are our own worst enemy, and have been in the past.

“I preach to these kids that our opponent doesn’t matter, it’s what we do. We are our own best friend or worst enemy, depending on how they want to come out and play. It doesn’t matter what team we’re playing if we’re doing our thing.”

Up next: Following some weather-related cancellations, Ilwaco is scheduled to open the season at home against Adna on Friday, March 15.