Staff file photo / Dan Hiner Warren JFK pitcher Andrew LaPolla delivers during the third inning of the Division VII regional semifinal against St. John on June 3 at Oberlin College.

Lifting a baseball district championship has become an annual tradition for the Warren JFK baseball team, which has won five consecutive district titles, as well as a state championship in 2021.

However, the sixth district trophy may prove to be the toughest one yet, as the Eagles battle youth and inexperience.

“Got a lot of young kids, so a lot of coaching and teaching being done,” Kennedy head coach Jim Ciambotti said. “Basically, we’re just all going to go through it together.

“Hopefully, we’ll get better as the year goes on, as April goes on into May. … We just want to take baby steps, and hopefully, put something together decently going into May.”

Starting slow is not unfamiliar for JFK, which lost its first two games in 2024, two of its first three in 2022 and the second game of its state championship season.

Ciambotti, who is beginning his sixth season as head coach, has consistently excused the starts over the years, reasoning that the Eagles’ basketball program, a perennial regional contender, understandably keeps the athletes who play both sports busy on the hardwood until just before baseball season begins. This year, exactly three weeks separates the end of Kennedy’s playoff basketball run and the baseball team’s season opener.

But a greater factor, if the Eagles do struggle early this spring, will likely be the relative lack of experience. The 2026 roster features just two seniors – Andrew LaPolla and Brennen Sanata – and six upperclassmen total.

“We have a very inexperienced team,” Ciambotti said. “We’re going to go through some growing pains, there’s no doubt about it. But, like I said, hopefully we can learn and get better as the season progresses.”

Both LaPolla and Sanata are expected to factor into the Eagles’ pitching rotation, along with Lucas Mealy, Graham Seese and Trevin Rinck. In addition to the upperclassmen-heavy pitching staff, junior Lucas Morrison and sophomores Landon Snyder and Dylan Sforza return as expected contributors.

Ciambotti said, unlike previous years, no one is entering the season as their “lockdown number one” pitcher. Regardless of who emerges as JFK’s go-to starter, though, the rotation strategy will be different in 2026, he said, as Kennedy is no longer a part of the Portage Trail Conference.

“Obviously, there’s no conference championship goal, so that removes that. Basically, we’re playing to get better every day, and the focus goes to the state tournament more than conference play,” Ciambotti said. “It changes your rotation and pitching plans. Going into certain games in past years, maybe you would save your one and two for conference play. But now, since these games kind of all roll together, you can maybe do things a little bit differently.”

One thing that will certainly not change anytime soon is the expectation. Despite entering the season with nearly two-thirds of his roster being underclassmen, Ciambotti, whose team opens the year Friday at Alliance, said making the drive to Canal Park in June remains a priority.

“As long as I’m the coach here, the goal will be to go to Akron to play for a championship. I’m sure every other coach in the state of Ohio says the same thing. I think if you set your goals any lower than that, we’re all wasting a lot of time,” Ciambotti said. “Our goal is always, first of all, to compete in the district tournament and, if things go our way, in the regional tournament. But the goal is to get to Akron. It always has been, it always will be with us. That’ll never change, and that’s been expressed.”