Bulldog Baseball Head Coach Chuck Stanger sees a lot of promise with his 2016 team. Last year, his team made a push at sections and played some of their best ball as the summer season neared. This year, he hopes the team starts quicker and sustains its excellence while improving as the competition heats up.
“Defensively, we should be solid,” Stanger said. “Hitting-wise, we should be all right. These kids have been a round a long time and they know how to play this game well.”
Stanger’s only real concern — as well as his players — is his pitching staff.
“Our pitching staff sort of let us down last year with lots of walks and big pitch counts,” he said. “That kind of baseball makes the players in the field lazy and causes harm to an otherwise well-rounded team.”
He’ll have pretty much the same hurlers as last year with one exception — Casey Vesledahl, who was one of Stanger’s best starters last year — will be slowed to start because of an injured shoulder he suffered during wrestling a few weeks back.
“That hurts and I’m hoping it (shoulder) comes around soon so he can start throwing,” said the head coach. “And hopefully the other pitchers will learn from last year and concentrate on throwing the ball over the plate more often and utilizing the great defense they have behind them.”
The other pitchers Stanger will be relying on are his grandson, Andrew, senior Cody Gruenhagen, senior Johnny Mann, senior Clayton Gallus, junior Kendal Hanson and junior Zach Fisher.
The team lost just one player to graduation last year (Eric Blomgren) but his spot will be filled by returning third baseman Beau Pauly, who missed the entire year last year due to a football injury in the Bulldogs’ final game of the year.
“Beau will fit right in and we shouldn’t miss a beat at third,” said Stanger. “Blomgren had a big bat, but Pauly should provide some good offense for us as well.”
Stanger is in his eighth consecutive year as head coach after taking time away from the game nearly a decade ago. He has the same assistant coaches on his staff this year once again including Steve Hill, Tyler Neidfelt and his son, Cory, who volunteers to help with the team.
Ten seniors and six juniors make up the team’s roster and Coach Stanger hopes he gets proven leadership and talent from some key players who will make or break this year’s season.
“We should be a very good team this year,” said Andrew Stanger. “We have to limit our mistakes, hit the ball well, throw the ball well and if we do all that, we should be fine.”
Cody Gruenhagen, one of the team’s top pitchers and a stalwart behind the plate at catcher, is anxious to get the uniforms on and the regular season underway.
“We have a veteran lineup that has been playing together for quite a long time,” he said. “That should bode well as we hopefully hit well and pitch well and play to our best potential. We have probably our best team in years.”
Austin Rasmussen, who is expected to play in the outfield and provide good defense, expects a good year also.
“If we can make good contact, work the counts and get good pitching from our guys, we are gonna be just fine,” he said. “We are on the verge of doing something great this year.”
Vesledahl is also oozing with confidence.
I’m positive we are gonna be a very good team this year, especially on defense,” he said. “I don’t think many teams are gonna score a whole lotta runs on us, so we just have to play smart.”
The team opens the season at home against Little Falls Thursday night.
“Little Falls always fields good teams so it’s really gonna be a challenge for us right out of the gate,” said Coach Stanger.
The team consists of Johnny Mann, Connor Rolf, Andrew Berglund, Matt Yoerg, Beau Pauly, Zach Halverson, Austin Rasmussen, Kendal Hanson, Logan Boyer, Cody Gruenhagen, Morgan Kramer, Clayton Gallus, Zack Fisher, Ryan Sommerdorf, Andrew Stanger and Casey Vesledahl.
Section 5AAA playoffs begin May 31 with the state tournament being played June 16-17.
