by Anna Scholl
Talon Staff WriterStaring with captains practice in the first week of January, the Minnehaha Redhawks baseball team has been training hard in preparation for this year’s coming season, including a trip to Florida which happened over spring break.
“We started captain’s practices the first week of January,” said senior captain Tim Krahn. “We’ve also had guys lifting in the weight room and had throwing sessions on Sundays.”
After graduating ten seniors graduating from last year, the baseball team, coached by Josh Thurow, has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming season.
Following last year’s conference-champions team, the baseball team has a lot of expectations to meet while taking the place of the previous champions. But one of the returning players this year is Krahn, a pitcher who last year struck out 66 batters in 69 innings, while walking only 20. He finished the year 9-2 with a 1.72 earned run average and three saves. Also, returning are brothers Matt and John Pryor, who both pitched well. Matt, a senior, was 6-1 with one save and a 1.87 ERA, striking out 36 in 33 2/3 innings. John, a sophomore, struck out 14 in 17 1/3 innings and had a 1.62 ERA.
Not only has the baseball team been working on the normal routine practices, but they also have new players ready to start up on varsity that didn’t get the chance last year.
“We have all of our best pitchers from last year,” Thurow said, “We’ve got JV guys ready to step up that weren’t able to play as much last year; sophomores, juniors, seniors. Now we have much more room for people who didn’t play as much.”
The baseball season lasts from the week after spring break to early June. Their biggest rivals this year will most likely be “St. Anthony, Concordia, and Breck,” according Krahn. Thurow also agreed with St. Anthony, saying that, “St. Anthony is our biggest rival in our conference and section. Baseball is their sport.” Last year, after beating them twice, the Redhawks lost in a double-header section to the Huskies 8-7 and 3-2.
Following last year’s conference championship and 19-5 record team will require a lot of work and raises a lot of expectations for the follow-up year.
With many months in preparation and players from JV ready to step up to the plate, this year’s season will certainly start off with high hopes and great turn-outs.