The Niles West baseball team is looking forward to a successful, and far-improved season from last year in 2011. The NWN had the chance to talk to varsity baseball head coach Garry Gustafson–and he was very enthusiastic about the upcoming season.

NWN: What are baseball’s goals this year?
Gustafson: We don’t really set team goals; however, we go into every game expecting to win. I guess our goals are to contend for conference and get better every day at practice.

NWN: Is this team an improvement from last year’s team?
Gustafson: Oh, I think so. This is a young team, but they aren’t lacking experience, so a lot of them will get playing time. We’re returning many starters from last year, such as Kyle Colletta, Ryan Olen, Kevin Ross, and Kenny Blanchard, and they’ll all help us tremendously this year, so we will be very improved.

NWN: Whose the fiercest competition in conference this year?
Gustafson: The CSL South is consistently very competitive year in and year out. There’s always 2-3 teams from it in the top 15 in the state. Evanston and New Trier will be very good this year, and GBS (Glenbrook South) is still a powerhouse. There’s no easy game on the schedule this year.

NWN: What are the specific areas where you have improved from last year?
Gustafson: I really felt like we were lacking strong leadership last year, but we’ve got a couple good leaders this year, so that has definitely improved. Our defense and pitching have also improved significantly from last year.

NWN: What are the areas that still need to be worked on?
Gustafson: We need to improve our offense. Last year, our bats were very cold, so we look to improve that. We’re getting there.