What’s next for Cougar baseball?
Now that the 2022 baseball season is over for the Burlington Cougars, what lies ahead for the program?
Well, with two-thirds of the roster returning, hope looms large for another successful season. Perhaps they can get past the second round of the regional playoffs, where their season has ended in each of the past two campaigns, following no season at all in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Cougars’ roster at the end of the season featured nine freshmen, a pair of sophomores and five juniors. They lost seven seniors to graduation, including senior all-conference selection Ty Marcum.
Among the returners are junior all-conference picks Garrett Richardson, Matthew Gutierrez, Dominic Conrardy and Henry Goodnow (honorable mention).
Burlington finished 17-6 in the 2022 season, climbing to as high as No. 6 in the state rankings. They were 10-2 at home and 7-4 on the road.
Their longest win streak was nine before it was ended in the regional final, an 8-6 upset loss to Denver Christian on the Cougars’ own field. It came a day after Burlington shut out Crowley County, 10-0, in the opening round, also at home.
The Cougars’ lone league loss was to Limon, which went on to win the Class 2A state championship for a second straight season (and is 46-0 in that span). Also, at no point in the season did Burlington lose more than two straight.
Burlington had one of the state’s most explosive offenses, scoring 15 or more runs six times and scoring in double digits a dozen times. Three times they topped the 20-run mark, including a season high in a 25-5 victory against County Line.
The Cougars could also play defense. Their pitching posted four shutouts, as opposed to only getting shut out once (the loss to Limon). Four other times they surrendered a single run.
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