The Aberdeen Smittys baseball team will feature some familiar names, a group of talented newcomers and a new coach who is no stranger to the squad.

Former Smittys standout and current Northern State player Brandon Kusler takes over the reigns of the program and he is excited about the opportunity.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Kusler said. “It should be a pretty fun year.”

That year starts this evening when the Smittys host Watertown in their season opener at 5:30 at Fossum Field.

Kusler is not only a former Smittys player, but has coached some of the program’s younger squads for the past three seasons, giving him a familiarity with the group that is joining the Legion team this summer.

“A lot of these young players coming up, like a lot of the first year Legion guys on our team, are guys that I’ve coached the last two or three years, so that’s definitely going to help,” Kusler said. “I’m familiar with a lot of them and what they’re capable of doing.”

Kusler also knows about some of the veterans on the team, guys like Josh Steinwandt and Brian Holmstrom who have a year of college under their belt, but are still young enough to play for the Smittys.

In reality, those individuals are not much younger than Kusler, which could lead to an interesting coach-player dynamic.

“I’ve thought a lot about that, too. It’s really good at times, because I feel like I can relate to the kids a lot more than maybe somebody who’s a little older or hasn’t played the game in a long time,” Kusler said. “But there’s also times too, where I catch myself being buddy-buddy with some of the guys and I have to try to remember at the end of the day that I’m their coach.”

Other key returning members from last year include Brock Martin, Nick Clemens and Connor Kannas.

They will be joined by a decorated group of players moving up through the ranks who have had major success in the past, including a state championship in U13, a state runner-up in U14 and a third-place finish last year in Junior Legion.

That group includes the likes of Drew Salfrank, Andrew Woehl, Jaiden Smith, Andrew Richardson, Casey Vining, Phillip Zens, Brenden Livermont, Carter Dingman and Ethan Kjenstad.

“They’re just a great group of kids,” Kusler said. “The talent of that younger group, I think that’s just going to mesh really well with the veteran leadership of the few guys that will be coming back. It will be a really good dynamic, I think.”

Look for the Smittys to focus on the fundamentals and doing the little things that add up to big things in a baseball game, items like throwing strikes, making the plays in the field and putting the ball in play.

“I think that’s going to be a strong suit of this team. I think we’re going to do a lot of those little things right. We’re going to have a lot of guys that can throw strikes,” Kusler said. “We’re not going to have guys that can blow it by hitters. We’re not going to be throwing 90 plus miles per hour by any means, but we’re going to have guys that can get on the bump and compete. Same thing at the plate, find a way to put balls in play and make things happen.”

Kusler will be assisted this season by his NSU teammate Karson Hesser.

Kusler said he expects the squad to be able to compete with anybody in the state this season.

The Smittys haven’t been to a state tournament since Kusler played for the squad in 2017. They would like to change that fact this summer.

“A huge goal for this team and for this program is get to the state tournament and make things happen after we get there,” Kusler said. “Obviously, every team wants to win a state championship and that’s going to be a possibility, but that can’t happen until you get to the state tournament and then go from there.”