Apr. 1—WORTHINGTON — Many of the same faces are back on the Worthington High School baseball team and they're looking to get better.
The Trojans are a team full of experience, with many on the team getting lots of playing time last year as younger underclassmen. Now they will look to be mainstays on this year's squad.
WHS did lose some big names to graduation, like pitcher Tucker Brandner and infielder Mathias Noble. But second year manager Steve Robinson likes the returning depth he has on this year's squad, which looks to be more competitive.
The vision also seems clear on what WHS needs to improve on early in the season.
"We really have to improve our defense," Robinson said. "Last year, we averaged more than four errors a game and we have to tighten that up. If we play good defense, we can be competitive in every game and the errors compound themselves. By then, the pitcher's facing more batters, using up more pitches in their pitch count allotment, which means we have to run through more pitchers. It just compounds itself."
Robinson also said the team needs to improve their contact hitting, putting more baseballs in play. He added the Trojans struck out in 30% of their at bats last year and they lost two of their best hitters who had low strikeout numbers.
WHS does have some hitting talent coming back that wasn't available last year due to injuries. Senior Chase Byrne and junior Dalton Larson are both back after missing all of last year and both are talented athletes who definitely strengthen the Trojan hitting lineup.
Other highlights in the batting order include seniors Emanuel Saravia, Dawson Svalland, sophomores Austin Gruis, Dominic Pavelko, Logan Kerkaert and Wyatt Petersen.
Saravia is primarily a shortstop and he played really well last year both in the field and at the plate as an all-Big South Conference honorable mention. Svalland will play mostly outfield and some first base, Gruis will primarily play behind the plate as the catcher, Pavelko is a very versatile player who played a lot of positions before and Kerkaert played a bit last spring and had a nice summer pitching in legion ball. Petersen played a bit last year and is an outfielder.
Pitching will also be a big focus for the Trojans with Robinson saying that they're working on throwing strikes more consistently.
"So far with our bullpen sessions, we have only been allowing them to throw fastballs," Robinson said. "We have to get them consistent with being able to throw fastballs across the plate."
Senior Max Ostrem is back on the pitching staff and he pitched a lot of pitching for WHS last year. Fellow senior Anthony Quintanilla also pitched a bit last year. Byrne has looked good in the bullpen and Pavelko can pitch too with his versatility.
"We've got about 10, 11, 12 players that are going to see the majority of the playing time, and they're going to be playing a variety of positions," Robinson said. "Versatility is very important to us, to have guys that can play multiple positions, because as we move pitchers around, we're gonna have to move people into multiple positions. And focusing on our middle infield and our center field, we need guys that can step in and play that as someone else is on the mound pitching."
The Trojans were scheduled to host Jackson County Central Tuesday to start their season but that game got postponed to May 12 due to incoming weather. Now they are slated to start the year Thursday at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls in a doubleheader with Redwood Valley and Luverne.
WHS is coming off a 6-15 record last year. The team was at one point 6-6 before ending the season on a nine game win streak against some tough competition.
The Trojans do play in ...
