By: Erik Sargent PBR Michigan Staff Writer 

Team of the Week: Grandville High School

This week’s team of the week for Prep Baseball Report is the Grandville Bulldogs, who are a part of the Ottawa-Kent Conference in the West Michigan Area.

The Bulldog’s are coached by first year head coach Ricky Clark. Clark played his high school ball at Mason High School and went on to play college baseball for Central Michigan University, where lettered in four years as an infielder.

This season, the Bulldogs are currently 5-4 to start the season. The team features some quality talent though and Clark thinks the team can accomplish big things.

“We have a mix of experienced guys and younger guys,” Clark said. “We can do a lot of really good things, we’re king of just working together as a team to polish up our game and the name of the game is going to be pitching.”

Clark took the Bulldogs down to the Indianapolis area for spring break, where they competed in exhibition games in hopes of improving as a team. The team lost all three of the games they played, but only lost each by one run.

Clark stated that the biggest thing for this team moving forward will be the pitchers stepping up and giving quality innings.

“We’re looking to focus on a couple of things for improvement,” Clark said. “We have a pretty solid foundation of kids.”

The Bulldogs feature a talented roster, which has two kids who are committed to play college at the next level.

The first is senior pitcher Oliver Jaskie, who has committed to pitch for the Michigan Wolverines next fall. The team will look to Jaskie to carry the pitching staff with senior leadership and experience.

The second player committed to play in college is senior third basemen Troy Merriman, who is committed to play at Findlay College in Ohio.

While there are only two players committed to play at the next level, Clark said he feels players like junior catcher Jake Garbarino could definitely get a look for the next level.

The team will be without one of its key members this spring, as former player Ryan Fischer passed away before one of Grandville’s hockey games this winter.

Fischer was a key member of the Bulldog’s baseball team last season and his presence will definitely be missed on the baseball field this spring.

“(As a baseball player) he was exactly like he was as a person,” Clark said. “He was true class. There are no words to describe what Ryan Fischer stood for and no words to describe what he did for Grandville. You hear it all the time, but he was a classy kid who was wise beyond his years.”

The team will look to make a splash in the Ottawa-Kent Red Conference this spring and honor the memory of Fischer.  With the senior leadership they have mixed in with young talent coming up through the program, they should be able to do just that.

“We’re trying to improve on working together,” Clark said. “Leadership will be the biggest thing for us going forward this season.”

Follow us on twitter @PBRMichigan and look each week as we select teams across the state for team of the week.