AUDUBON – The Audubon baseball team had a rough go a year ago, but this year has started the season on the right foot.
A 20-3 victory over Griswold was an encouraging sign for the Wheelers, who are already halfway to matching their win total from a year ago.
Carson Wessel had five hits against the Tigers, driving in six runs, while Jack Stanerson had four RBIs in drawing a walk and getting a hit. The team needed to overcome five errors, but got the job done as Adam Obrecht pitched a complete game, using 82 pitches to strike out eight and give up two hits, three walks and no earned runs.
A nice start to the season, a year after the Wheelers gained their only two wins, one each over AHSTW and Glidden-Ralston.
Eric Borkowski is in his second year as the Wheelers coach, and he reflected on last year’s result.
“It was a little bit upsetting for me and and all of us, but we’re definitely going to put up a great effort and get more wins this year,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we’re going to have to improve on, like our pitching, our hitting and our fielding. But the kids have put in a lot of time in the off-season and put forth a great effort and there’s great motivation by each and every one of the kids so far this season and throughout the off-season.”
There’s 31 players in the program, including about 11 or 12 eighth-graders, which gives the program some depth in its junior varsity and JV-R levels. The top-end has six seniors: Colton Hansen, Gabe Jensen, Adam Obrecht, Aaron Olsen, Jack Stanerson and Mason Steckler.
“A lot of the kids who are back had experience at the varsity level or the JV levels from last year, and that’s great to see,” said Borkowski.
Five of the top offensive players were juniors or younger a year ago. Brody Schultes, now a junior, led the team with a .384 average and was on-base 38.2% of the time, collecting 30 base hits and 12 RBIs. Olsen (.337, 28 hits including five extra-base hits) was also above .300, but the team collectively had just a .231 average at the plate and struck out 206 times in 611 at-bats on the year.
This year, Hansen, Schultes and Wessel seem to be the ones who were hitting the best in the pre-season, although Borkowski said many of his players are hitting well in practice.
Olsen led the team in stolen bases with 13, bot no one else had more than four swipes. The team will also be looking to shore up its defense, with an 83.7% fielding rate, and with 119 errors that’s an average of 4.6 per game.
Obrecht was the team ace, with a 2-6 record. In 38-1/3 innings, he had a 5.48 ERA, with 39 strikeouts against 30 walks. There’s an army in the bullpen, with upperclassmen dominating: seniors Olsen, Stanerson and Steckler, and juniors Schultes and Wessel. Aiden Kjergaard, Hudson Hocker and Hayden Larson could also see time on the mound.
There’s three players who’ll see time behind the plate in varsity contests: Paxton Beane, Carson Hansen and Gabe Jensen. Hayden Larsen will also give it a go in junior varsity games.
Infield will likely be – and this could change due to game situation or who’s pitching – Hansen at first, Stanerson at second, Wessel at third and Kjergaard at shortstop. Outfielders will be a lot of Steckler, Schultes, Ryan Hermansen and maybe one or two others.
“The biggest thing is to stay healthy and keep them away from that injury bug that’s going around,” said Borkowski. “A lot of things are going well is they’re showing up. They have a great attitude … and so far they want to be there and want to learn and asking lots of questions, even if it’s a simple question like ‘If I don’t back it up here, is it OK if I’m here?’ That’s what I keep telling them … just don’t be caught in no-man’s land and give yourself a chance.”
The Western Iowa Conference seems to be a lot of Underwood, Underwood and more Underwood, the defending Iowa Class 2A champions. All signs point to an Eagle WIC-championship repeat with Garrett Luett returning, although Tri-Center and Logan-Magnolia are looking to have a say.
Top non-conference games include West Central Valley, Interstate 35 of Truro, Martensdale-St. Marys, CAM, Earlham and Exira-EHK.
“We’ve got lots of good games and good teams,” Borkowski said of the schedule.
The next game for the Wheelers is a WIC game against IKM-Manning Tuesday, May 27, at Manning, with a home game vs. Underwood on Wednesday, May 28.