Staff photo / Joel Whetzel Warren JFK pitcher Freddy Bolchalk fires in a pitch during the Eagles' 3-1 win over Warren G. Harding.

WARREN — Three years ago, Jim Ciambotti took over the Warren JFK baseball program and promptly led the Eagles to their first state championship in program history. Now, the players who experienced that title victory in Akron as freshmen are entering their fourth and final season at Kennedy.

JFK’s 2024 senior class, which could bookend its high school baseball career with state titles, is the first Ciambotti has overseen from start to finish at Kennedy.

“These guys have been the heart and soul of this program,” Ciambotti said. “We obviously had upperclassmen that helped out tremendously, but they’ve been with us for four years and a lot of the success we’ve had is attributed to them.”

Ciambotti expects the extensive playoff and championship experience across multiple sports to be a boon for the Eagles’ season.

“There’s no substitute for experience. To be in those type of games, that hardens you for the big games during the regular season, conference games and tournament,” Ciambotti said. “In addition, I got four or five basketball players… They’ve played at a high level for years. So the kids in this school, they’re used to postseason play and that goes a long way.”

THE SQUAD

The Eagles return multiple key contributors from last year’s 20-7 varsity team, including senior Jaden Rishel and junior Freddy Bolchalk, who went a combined 10-3 on the mound in 2023. Rishel recorded a 1.13 ERA in nine appearances, while Bolchalk finished 5-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 10 appearances.

Ciambotti expects pitching and defense to remain Kennedy’s “foundation,” but he said he told his players that their hitting must improve from past seasons to help alleviate the load on the pitchers.

“I wouldn’t call it a weakness, but we’ve got to be able to do more offensively with the bats,” Ciambott said. “We’ve relied too much on our pitching, and I’ve told the ballclub that we have to produce more efficiently on offense.”

Juniors Dom Ryan and Michael Bartoe, seniors Santino Ciambotti and Michael Condoleon and Youngstown State commit Caleb Hadley figure to be some of Kennedy’s best players this season. Hadley led Kennedy last year in batting average (.443), on-base percentage (.608), slugging percentage (.657), runs (30) and triples (3) as a junior.

Ciambotti also named 6-foot-4 freshman Trevin Rinck and junior Taggart Carfangia as relative newcomers worth keeping an eye on. Carfangia, who went 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA on the mound and batted .333 in 10 games last season, was forced to sit out the final stretch of Kennedy’s 2023 campaign after transferring from Hubbard.

OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Ciambotti said a point of focus for the team is how to manage adversity and maneuver around some of the obstacles the Eagles will face this season.

The preseason has given JFK an early test in that regard; like many area teams, Kennedy’s on-field time has been inconsistent due to inclement weather, making the process of evaluating the lineup more difficult. Additionally, some of Kennedy’s best players have only recently been able to join the team after a basketball season that lasted until a March 15 loss in the regional final.

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s good for school,” Ciambotti said. “A lot of them have come once in a while during basketball just either to hit, throw, throw off a mound. It wasn’t consistent, but at least they had a little bit of taste of it. And this week, we’ve really tried to kind of force-feed them at-bats in batting practice [and] try to ramp them up pitch count-wise on the mound.

“But we don’t use excuses around here. It is what it is and we’re going to deal with it.”

There is also the ever-lingering possibility games will be canceled, rescheduled or otherwise changed, which adds to the “distractions” Ciambotti has emphasized to his team they have to overcome.

“We talked about it with the seniors yesterday with all the stuff — prom and graduation and this and that, distractions,” Ciambotti said. “I’d say overcoming adversity is what we try to preach because you’re dealing with the weather, movement of games, all the distractions that come with being seniors and all that. So we have to be able to overcome the adversity on a daily basis and focus on the task at hand every day.”

Kennedy opens what it hopes to be a magical season Saturday at 1 p.m. at Salem before testing its mettle against Ursuline on Monday at Bob Cene Park in Struthers and against 2023 Division I regional semifinalist Archbishop Hoban on Wednesday in Akron.

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