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SD Class A Top 5
1. Lincoln- I know they've already lost a game but with two all-state players back (Parker Bullard and Nolan Burchill) from a state championship team that lost just four seniors, they are the favorite in a very crowded field at the top of the class.
2. Roosevelt – Roosevelt has good pitching starting with Stuart Baruth who will be going to Johnson County, KS next year. They've gotten off to a 4-2 start including wins over Washington and Lincoln.
3. Washington – The Warriors have good defense and depth at pitching. Tim Wood, Derek Hammer, Lucas Wylie, Ian Ailts, Jake Barkema and Evan Kuhnert give this team an experienced savvy.
4. O’Gorman – The Knights have the deepest team they've had in years. They'll look to Reece Mimmack, AJ Martinec and Mason Koch to lead the way. Coach Jack VanLeur likes their
The strengths of our team this year will be our depth and defense. We have about 18 guys I feel comfortable with right now that can go out and compete. It is always nice to have some internal competition it pushes the boys to get better. Our strength so far this spring would definitely be our defense and our teams ability to make the routine plays. They have stayed within themselves for the most part so far and we have had minimal mistakes to this point.
5. Brookings - They are coming off of a third place finish at state, but they've lost seven seniors. The Bobcats have the pieces to reload though. They'll rely on their speed and pitching depth. Kyle Krogman has a chance to become one of the best pitchers in the state.
"This might be the first time we don't have a knock down number one ace but we have good pitching depth," said Coach Bauer.
SD CLASS B TOP 5
1.St. Thomas More - The defending champs have a lot of talent back including, Travis Mills, Andrew Montoya, George Eccarius and Lincoln Feist.
2. Madison – In general Madison will be a young team. After a strong senior class that finished 2014 losing to St Thomas More in the Championship game Madison has only 1 returning starter in DWU recruit 2B Heith Williams & Nick Koep put in a few innings on the mound last season. Madison has a good group of young men out for this season led by 3 seniors. We will definitely be looking at all players freshmen up to fill in the positions. This group is very athletic and talented with a great attitude wanting to play baseball. These athletic are the same ones that participated in the finals in football last fall, competitive team in basketball to the finals of the regions and some top 8 state wrestlers. We have a lot guys that can play various positions and looks to have a pretty full bullpen. Overall Madison is looking to put a young competitive team on the field.
3. Bon Homme – Bon Homme returns 2 All-State players in 1st team pitcher Chase Kortan who as freshmen posted a 1.78 ERA with 40 K’s (3 walks) and was 4-1 with 2 saves in 25+ innings. Chase also led us on offense batting .422 with 2 HR’s, 15 RBI’s, and 9 SB. 2nd team infielder Cole Uecker was also a freshmen and will be counted on to improve his .270 average and anchor the infield from his catcher / shortstop positions. This team will lack upperclassmen but most of these kids have played on Teener teams that have won 4 straight VFW state championships.
Coach Gary Kortan - "We have been preaching that if we throw it across the plate and don’t walk the opposing hitters we will be successful. Year-in and year-out our kids have done that and even though we will start 7 sophomores and freshmen, they are capable of leading us to the finals on June 6th."
4. West Central
5. Winner/Colome
"Our biggest strengths going into this season is our team speed, defense, and pitching depth. We are a very young team with 7 underclassmen in the Opening Day starting lineup, but we have a lot of kids who love playing baseball and work hard at improving their game. We lost a lot of key players from last year’s team through graduation and injury, but have a talented group of young guys ready to step up and fill different roles. We don’t have very much power, but our lineup will be able to handle the bat well and are adept at playing small ball. The key to our season will be how well our young pitchers can throw strikes and how they adjust to playing a full Varsity season. " , Coach Drew Weber