Coming into this year, Lone Tree baseball, who lost eight seniors from last season, was expected to go through some growing pains. 

Finishing with six wins less than last year, the 2023 Lions ended their campaign with 1-19 record overall and a 1-11 record in conference play. Their season came to an end in the first round of the postseason, losing in a road playoff game versus the Hillcrest Ravens, 12-2. 

The Lion’s lone win of the year came early on in the season. Defeating conference rival Wapello, 8-5, on June 2. Mathew Hemsted, a Lone Tree senior, scored three runs to lead the team and notched one RBI. 

Hemsted put together an exceptional senior season. As a catcher he was a unanimous selection for first team in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North. Hemsted led the team with 20 hits, produced the team best batting average with .370, and was the only Lion to hit a homerun.

Leading Lone Tree with 18 RBIs and selected second team in the SEISC North as an outfielder was sophomore Maddox Jondle. Excelling in base running Jondle led the team in stolen bases with 10 and at the plate his .308 batting average was second best on the team.

In total the Lions received four all conference selections with the last two being honorable mentions. Those honorable mentions went to freshman Emmett Burke and sophomore Jack Patterson. 

Burke’s .302 batting average was the third best on the team, he hit three triples, and ended his season with nine RBIs. Patterson started the most games on the mound for Lone Tree, pitching in 29 innings. He led the team with 26 strikeouts.

Lone Tree, following the win against Wapello, suffered a 16-game losing streak to end the season. During this losing streak they scored their season high in a road game against Danville. A scoring bonanza Lone Tree scored 15 runs, but Danville was able to prevail with 16 runs of its own. 

As a team the Lion scored 83 runs from 105 hits. They recorded 162 strikeouts and stole 47 bases. 

Hemsted, Joe Boxwell, Drew Gauley, and Caden Smith are the four seniors the Lions said goodbye to at the conclusion of the season. Ethan Bockelman, Harry Brenneman, and Dominic Graap are the three juniors who will step into more of a leadership role next year as fourth years. 

While this season did not see many wins the players who will carry over to next year gained valuable experience. Hoping to capitalize on the earned experience the Lions, with a fresh clean slate of a 0-0 record, will work towards putting together an improved season that sees a myriad of wins.