Seneca’s Gsell starting season off with a hot bat
Hitting a baseball is difficult for some people to do. For Kevin Gsell, he is not having a problem right now.
The junior Seneca High School shortstop is batting over the .600 mark for the Golden Eagles, and he is showing no signs of slowing down. Against previously undefeated Vineland, he added two hits to his total. He also has displayed the ability to put the ball across parts of the field while raising his average.
“It feels good to get hot like this at the beginning of the season,” Gsell said. “I just want to keep it going for the rest of the year.”
The junior, who is also a football player, made a tweak to his approach before the season started, which has helped with his torrid start.
“I wanted to be more aggressive and find pitches to drive,” Gsell said. “just keep practicing ground balls and the fundamentals.”
The way he has played so far this season has impressed coach Jay Donoghue.
“He’s been our best player by far this year. He has been super consistent at the plate. He always gets on base. He probably has one of the highest batting averages in South Jersey right now. He’s been playing great baseball,” Donoghue said. “His arm has been a little bit sore so we think we are going to move him around position wise, but he is always consistent, level-headed. He is a great kid and fun to coach.”
Gsell is part of a team that is trying to find consistency early in the season. The team has been hovering around the .500 mark.
“We’ve been up and down a little bit,” Donoghue said. “We’ve got enough talent to beat any team. Vineland was 7–0. We have some tough games this week. We are a young team so the more experience we get, I think it will help as we go. Our pitching has been pretty solid. We just have to make more plays on the field for those guys.”
If Gsell continues to hit the way he has been hitting this season, he will be able to help accomplish the goal he wants.
“Our goal is to get in the playoffs, go far and get into the championship. We just have to go and clean it up a little bit in the field before we can do anything,” Gsell said.