Weather has disrupted the start of the Leopards baseball season, but the team is ready for a new year and a new district. To help get ready for the rest of heart of the season, The Red Ledger’s Katie Curry sat down with junior baseball player Michael Koval for the following Q&A:

The Red Ledger: How long have you played baseball and how much of your time does it consume?

Koval: “I’ve played for about seven years now, outside of school travel ball has taken up a lot of time. For example I’m on the road six weeks straight this coming summer.”
The Red Ledger: What do you expect for the team this year?

Koval: “I think this year will be a good year filling holes and our production at the plate increasing, and the two returning P/O ‘s will make us a hard team to beat.”

The Red Ledger: What’s a difference between high school ball and select ball?

Koval: “Time/games. Baseball in high school you get two games a week with select you get games every other day and a tournament every weekend.”

The Red Ledger: Who is your favorite MLB player and why?
Koval: “Derek Jeter. The way he played the game and just how respected he is makes him a huge role model for me.”

The Red Ledger: What is a big misconception of baseball?

Koval: “I think a lot of people see baseball as “easy,” little do people know the game is much harder than it seems. Hitting a round object with a round object traveling at 88-92 mph is probably one of the hardest things to do.”

The Red Ledger: What is your favorite thing about the sport?
Koval: “I’d have to say my favorite thing would be the part of success and the moments. Bases loaded, two outs, tie game, in the final inning of the World Series, it’s things like that that you got to love and make you want to continue getting better, cause when the moment comes and coach calls on you, you want nothing to do more than to be the one to get that hit.”