By Becky Walz,
With one senior, the Turkey Valley baseball team will gain valuable experience this season.
Featuring seven returnees, the Trojans will look for newcomers to fill some holes on offense to give TV a little push in the win column.
Head Coach Dan Stepan is back with the reins for his 19th season at the helm.
Last year
The Trojans of 2020 featured a host of seniors and a handful of underclassmen looking to put together a winning season.
Despite their best intentions, the team struggled to get wins and went 3-11 in the Upper Iowa Conference. An exposure to the COVID-19 virus by a team member, forced the Trojans to forfeit the Class 1A first round contest to end the already shortened season.
As a team, the Trojans hit .231, with a .380 on-base percentage and .380 slugging mark. They had 16 doubles and scored 76 runs. The pitching staff struggled with a 9.64 earned run average (ERA).
At the conclusion of the season, the Trojans graduated Keegan Balk, Seth Huinker, Kannon Leuenberger, Elliott Dietzenbach, Eli Nymeyer, Sam Kout, Luke Mueller, Kade Kruse and Dylan Elsbernd.
“We lost several seniors from last year’s team and don’t return much offensively. Hopefully, the time spent this offseason will show up this summer,” said Coach Stepan.
Finding chemistry
Stepan has seven experienced athletes back from a season ago.
As a freshman, Noah Hanson returns with the best batting average at .306, having knocked out 10 hits. He made five appearances on the mound for a 2.72 ERA, pitching a total of 18 innings and striking out 15 to earn a second-team all-UIC nod.
Senior Kalvin Langreck also climbed the hill in seven games to record 12 strikeouts. Also, back as a starter is Garrett Kurtenbach who drove in nine runs.
Other notables back in the dugout with some level of experience are Dylan Reicks, Carson Busta, Calvin Bodensteiner and Chase Hayek.
“We have several players with varsity experience, we hope that the playing time they have had will turn into success on the field. I think our pitching has a chance to be better than the past few years as well. We also have several three or four sport athletes on this team that know how to compete,” said Coach Stepan.
Looking to fill the voids left by graduation is a host of younger players, including Austin Kuehner, Rolin Schmitt, Treyton Hulbert, Garrett Dietzenbach, Brennan Drilling, Oliver Schmitt and Caleb Kurtenbach.
Looking ahead
At this time, Coach Stepan is unsure where the Trojans will land in the Upper Iowa Conference standings.
“I think we have some pieces to win some games that we shouldn’t win on paper. We have to play well every night to have a chance,” the veteran skipper added. “We had such a great senior class last year and it’s been fun to see younger players stepping up in several sports. It’s been fun to see our lone senior (Kalvin Langreck) go from role player to a major player this year in many sports. He is going to be key for us to have a successful season this summer.”
Coach Stepan believes the UIC will again be a battle, with South Winn, Kee High, North Fayette Valley and Clayton Ridge/Central returning most of their teams and all in the hunt for the coveted conference crown.
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