A busy start to the NSAA high school baseball season will test Wayne High early with a goal of making a return trip to the Class C State tournament.
A total of 25 will make up this year’s Blue Devil baseball team.
Head coach Adam Hoffman will be starting his 14th season leading Wayne High baseball. Coach Hoffman said it starts with the basics and fundamentals.
“Been scrimmaging some to get some live at-bats and just try to pick up the pitch out of the pitchers hand,” said Hoffman “We want to try to get them as prepared as we possibly can for that first game as far as seeing live pitching. Just the situations, there’s a million situations in baseball that can happen so we try to go over as many as we can.”
Assisting coach Hoffman will be Robbie Gamble, Jack Belt and Gary Redden.
Blue Devil seniors will be Gavin Redden, Calvin Ankeny, Alex Rodriguez and Brayden Rajaee-Hallgren.
Along with key performances from the senior class the sophomore duo of Jaxson Kneil and Adrian Contreras return along with junior Parker Patefield. Junior Gavin Anderson had surgery following an injury during the football season with the hopes of potentially pitching for Wayne this spring. Others who will have an opportunity to step up will be juniors Brodey Munter and Drew Reinhardt as well as sophomores William Patefield and Chase Nelson.
Redden led the Blue Devils last season with 34 hits while Kneifl was fourth on the team with 20 hits his freshman season. Top returning pitchers include Redden (52 innings pitched) and Contreras (33 innings) as well as Anderson, Rodriguez and Kneifl.
Wayne High finished 14-9 last season, going 0-2 at state and have qualified for back-to-back Class C state tournaments.
The goal again is to be playing their best baseball in May.
“It’s going to come down to if our guys come to practice every day to work hard,” Hoffman added. “Hopefully win or lose in a game, we’re never satisfied. We’re always coming to practice, maybe if it’s a game the next day, we’re always coming to the next day to work to get better.”
A series of four road games in six days are scheduled to open the Wayne High baseball season starting at Wahoo on Thursday, March 20 pending weather. WHS is also scheduled to travel to Adams Central (Hastings) this Friday, visit Arlington next Monday and visit Fort Calhoun next Tuesday.
Coach Hoffman mentioned the team will need to get their rest while staying hydrated and eating well to perform at their best.
“I know it’s early and we’ve talked about it in practice,” Hoffman mentioned. “We can’t use that as an excuse of maybe why we’re not pounding the zone. We got to let our defense go to work. So, we got to work pitch to contact and just get outs. Our defense has got to be ready, be on their toes all the time and be ready to make plays.”
The home opener for Wayne baseball is scheduled for Thursday, March 27 hosting Pender.
