Sunshine has attacked the off-season with plenty of grunt as the club prepares for its return to the top ranks of the Baseball Victoria Summer League competition.
The Eagles won back their spot in division 1 last year after finishing on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season.
It will be a new-look Sunshine outfit that takes to the pitch for round one, with Grant Weir stepping in as head coach.
Weir brings a mountain of experience to the role, having represented Australia at the 1988 Olympic Games.
More recently, he coached Newport and Malvern and worked with the Victorian state squad.
“It’s very exciting to be at Sunshine,” Weir said. “The club is in a really good position in regards to its administration. That’s one of the things that attracted me to it.
“They are very organised, they have a lot of volunteers, they have good facilities, and that’s the backbone of any good club.”
To help prepare for the jump in class, Sunshine has also strengthened its playing squad.
The Eagles have added shortstop Jordan Young and pitcher Griffin Weir to their group.
Also rejoining the club is former Sunshine junior and Australian player Greg Wiltshire, and coming to the Eagles from the US is catcher Eric Bruns.
Hailing from Michigan, Bruns has thoroughly impressed during his early days with Sunshine.
“In previous years, the club has recruited pitchers from overseas,” Weir said.
“Between Griffin, Greg and Rory Meddick, I think we have our pitching pretty much covered just with Australian guys.
“Eric has fitted in very well. That’s a bonus, to get him around the group for that amount of time before the season starts.”
Sunshine kicks off its 2015 campaign with a home game against Sandringham.
The club will then take on last year’s premier Essendon in round two.
Having moved up a division, Weir believes cutting down on errors will be the key to making a successful jump in class.
“We don’t have to do anything special. We just have to cut out some of the things that we got away with in division 2,”
Weir said.
“We don’t need to do anything beyond our capabilities, but we really do need to play to our capabilities.
“We will go through and take each pitch as it comes, and then add up the scores at the end and see where it gets us.”
