ROXANA - The Roxana High School baseball team is one that is very young. They only lost four seniors this season and have a ton of room to grow.
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Elias Thies will be a junior in the fall and looks forward to becoming one of the leaders on the team.
"I like the role," he said. "I like to help all these young kids get better. That's just what I like to do."
The team won't be as young next season as they'll roster seven seniors and four juniors.
When Thies isn't in the outfield, he can also pitch with the best of them. Thies is a Midwest Members Credit Union Male Athlete of the Month for Roxana.
As a matter of fact, Roxana's 1-2-3 pitchers will all be returning next season. Thies, Jon Webb, and Nick Cotter combined to make 34 pitching appearances last season totaling 90 innings.
Thies led the team with 59 strikeouts through his 11 games played averaging more than five K's a game.
Not only that, but he's arguably the team's best hitter. He boasted a team-high .440 batting average and .488 OBS. He was good for 28 RBI's over the course of 116 at-bats.
With all the stats though, he still wants to be better. That's why he's out playing on Roxana's summer team.
"I'm coming out here to perfect everything and get better," he said. "Trying to get along with my teammates more to create a bond with them since we have a lot of young guys."
The Shells will be looking to better their 9-24 season and make another run at the conference. The run starts with summer ball.
Roxana will be back in action today against Granite City and again on Thursday vs. Southwestern.
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