2025 saw a lot of success for North Oldham Baseball. The Mustangs advanced to their first Eighth Region Championship since 2022 and have carried over that success to start the 2026 season.
The Mustangs started the season 3-0 and are currently sitting at 3-2 on the year. For North head coach Erik Phelps, the season kicked off after Labor Day during the fall program. North had nine seniors graduate last year, and he knew some guys were going to have fill in some starting spots this year. He wanted his guys to get acclimated to things early on in the offseason.
“That just sets up for everybody being on the same page, and everybody gets a chance to see all the kids,” Phelps said. “This is how we want to be able to do things. It makes it easier to build on, ‘hey, we got to the Eighth Region Final, and here’s how we did. We had really good pitching, and here’s how we fell short and how we have to try to get over the hump.’ It’s still the same thing. It’s about playing high levels of catch and getting that timely hit and being able to respond to mistakes when they do happen.”
Phelps has a smaller senior class this year, but all four seniors have experience going into this season. Phelps is proud of his seniors for not only working with the team but taking time to get better on their own. He’s noticed them get physically stronger and more confident in their abilities out on the field.
“They’re able to contribute more,” Phelps said. “They’re more vocal, because they feel good about what they’re bringing to the table. Having a year’s worth of work, they understand the verbiage that we’re talking about. They understand what the coaching staff is trying to get across. They can easily grab a kid and say, hey, ‘this is what we’re doing,’ and demonstrate it. That’s how they’ve been able to make things easier on everybody, to be able to demonstrate, and they feel good, because they’ve worked hard.”
One of the seniors that returned this year is Kaden Dickhaut. Dickhaut threw the third most innings last year and struck out third most batters on the team as well. Phelps can see the love of the sport from him and his positive attitude towards wanting to get better.
“[Dickhaut] got some interest from some professional teams as well, like, ‘you’re on our radar,’” Phelps said. “That’s certainly a confidence builder for him. His ability to add some off-speed pitches last year, Coach [Matt] Walker worked with him on being able to develop that changeup. Now, it’s increased in velocity. That gives another problem for that hitter to be able to solve. You got a big differential. You’ve got something that’s coming at you now. You got a 12 mile an hour differential to deal with that he can throw for a strike.”
Junior Gabe Kuerzi also returns to the bump for the Mustangs. He threw the fourth most innings on the team last year but also struck out the second most with a 2.82 ERA. Phelps knows Kuerzi is going to be reliable when he gets on the mound.
“[Kuerzi] is really good with getting guys in one-on-one situations and making those moves,” Phelps said. “We also believe that when guys do that, they’re kind of self-teaching themselves. He’s a young pitcher. He grew up as a catcher. He hasn’t grown up on a mound. He’s got really good stuff, and he’s still young there, so he’s learning how to be there and be able to locate. He’s growing in that area. He spent his offseason working on those types of things, and his ceiling is very high. He’s certainly gotten a lot of interest in people following him. He can be lights out.”
Phelps feels confident in the bullpen. He’s also confident in their pitches and the variety they have. Junior Jonathan Oxender has started two games this year and has thrown 4.1 innings while senior Jackson Bowen and sophomore Samuel Lye have thrown multiple innings as well.
“Jonathan Oxender has added several miles an hour to his fastball, and his misses are much smaller in the zone, so he’s been able to contribute on the mound early for us,” Phelps said. “We’re looking to be able to use him.”
Bowen is also coming back as one of the top hitters on the team from last season. He averaged .280 at the plate last year. Bowen is someone Phelps has been impressed with the work he’s put in outside of practice in the weight room and with his position flexibility as well. Phelps has seen his confidence skyrocket over the offseason, especially after signing to play in college.
“He’s got certain numbers that are hard to teach, as far as spin rates and things that they identify with,” Phelps said. “Anytime an outside source comes in and says, ‘hey, they like what you do.’ That’s pretty powerful stuff. You start to work out on your own, and you can see where you’re getting better. You start to feel better about things. We talk about with the guys, like, ‘the nature of the game is going to be humbling, because it’s a really tough environment. You feel good right now, but hardship is coming. We need to make sure that you all understand how to move through that, because it’s not always going to be easy. We’re going to face it. It’s going to be difficult, and we just need to prepare.’”
North Oldham has two transfers from South Oldham in juniors Beckett Labar and Hayden Barnett. Phelps has seen their transition to the team be seamless.
“School wise, they enjoyed being at North,” Phelps said. “They’re good teammates instantly. It really was seamless. [Labar] comes in and locks down third base for us…he’s been a big pickup for us, but it’s been seamless.”
Junior Drake Graeter transferred over from Trinity and slid into center field for the team. Phelps has noticed the growth of seniors Larkin Grimm and Logan Cox. Phelps likes the speed Grimm brings to the table and has been impressed with the physical tools of sophomore Jack Yarka and his ability to slide into a role at first base this year.
“Graeter has got some electricity running through his body, and he’s pretty seamless chemistry,” Phelps said. “He knows what it looks like to win and knows what hard work looks like. He’s been very pleasant…Logan has locked down catching, and he’s increased his strength and threw out several runners and hit three doubles in one game at LaRue County and is off to a really good start and is handling our pitching staff.”
The main goal for North Oldham is to get back to the regional championship this year and make a state appearance. Phelps wants to focus on winning the district and securing a spot in regionals with an automatic berth for a second consecutive year under Phelps.
“As the season progresses, you’re really just, individually, trying to get better and trying to make sure that we’re trying to get that number one seed and trying to make sure that we’re continuing working on getting better,” Phelps said. “That way, we’re moving forward, because you really need to try to get that number one seed. You give yourself a shot to be able to get through three games to get your championship and get to Lexington…you have to really enjoy being around the guys. This is a good group. I think for most part, we’re all rolling together. We enjoy being around each other, so we’re all looking forward to having a terrific season.”