Eastern Iowa baseball preview capsules

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By the Quad-City Times staff | Thursday, May 24, 2007 4:06 AM CDT | () comments

EASTERN IOWA OVERVIEW

OUTLOOK

Again this season there are some excellent baseball teams among the Quad-City area schools. Exciting matchups are expected in all four area conferences.

Wilton has been one of the top teams in the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference and the state the past two seasons, and the Beavers aren’t being dismissed this year despite graduating a bunch of talent.

“Wilton and Mid-Prairie are always fundamentally sound, so they will be at the top,” first-year Durant coach Ryan Rezac says. “Solon has great athletes, and you can always do well with that. Williamsburg will be a sleeper team, coming off a good season at the varsity level and an undefeated JV team.”

The EIHC is looking for some new stars to emerge, as well, as 12 of the 14 first-team all-conference players last season were seniors.

Coaches in the Big East Conference expect an exciting season, with several teams expected to contend for the title. Defending champion Northeast, along with North Cedar and Lisbon were named by several coaches as teams in the race, but Bellevue, Bellevue Marquette, Camanche and Midland also might be in the hunt, according to league coaches.

The race in the Southeast Iowa Superconference appears competitive. Iowa Mennonite School and Pekin both have a lot of returning talent, but so do Columbus and Wapello.

“I expect our conference to be fairly competitive with about five teams fighting for the top spot in the conference,” Columbus coach Edwin Colon says.

West Delaware is the favorite to win the WaMaC Conference East Division again. It won with an 8-2 mark (18-2 overall against conference teams) and of its six first-team all-conference players, only one was a senior. It won’t be a cakewalk, though.

“We have one of the toughest (Class) 3A conferences in the state,” Central DeWitt coach Bill Petsche says. “West Dubuque (state runner-up), Dyersville Beckman (state qualifier), Marion (state qualifier) and West Delaware (ranked No. 1 last season with mostly juniors) are all top teams in the state. Maquoketa and Waterloo Columbus should also be very good.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Justin Amidon, North Cedar: The senior earned first-team honors at catcher in the conference and district last season after batting .532. He also had a 4-1 record as a pitcher.

Scott Breon, Wapello: He might not be big (5-foot-6, 140 pounds), but the junior center fielder has been a big part of the Indians offense. He batted .410 last season, earning first-team all-Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division honors, and stole 20 bases in 21 attempts.

Jeremy Davis, Columbus: The senior utility player was a first-team all-Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division pick last year when he went 7-2 on the mound. He also earned second-team all-Southeast District honors.

Eric Holmes, Wilton: A first-team all-conference pitcher and first-team all-state utility player last year, the senior is getting national recognition this season. He was named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America second team. He was 9-2 on the mound with a 0.70 ERA last season and batted .402.

Shawn Johnston, Northeast: The all-stater is the top returning pitcher in the Big East Conference. He was 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA in the conference as a junior, and he batted .515.

Kirby Rock, Calamus-Wheatland: The two-time first-team all-state player is an imposing figure at 6-feet-2, 235 pounds. He batted .450 last year and was a first-team all-conference utility player.

STORYLINES

N Having graduated some of the premier players in the state the past two years – they strung together 58 consecutive wins over those seasons – Wilton will have a younger look this season. The Beavers (30-7, 18-2 EIHC in 2006) still hope to be competitive, though, especially with Holmes back at the top of the rotation and second-team all-conference utility player Drake Austin, who hit .337 last year as a sophomore and was 8-1 with four saves and a 1.48 ERA as a pitcher. Coach Jake Souhrada also can call on players off last year’s 27-5 sophomore team. “We should have solid pitching and defense, (but) we will need to improve our hitting,” coach Jake Souhrada says. “We will be young this year and hoping to improve from game to game. We have a good group of players that really have been working hard and have shown a lot of progress since our first practice.”

N Durant is coming off a 16-12 season, 11-9 EIHC). “We are looking to continue with the success this program has experience over the past seasons under coach XXXX Petersen,” first-year coach Ryan Rezac says. “We are also looking to play fundamentally smart baseball. Our overall goal for the season is to not lose the last ballgame we play.” Second-team all-conference outfielder Ricky Glossip (.403, 14 RBIs), who was on base more than half the time (.579 on-base percentage) last year, leads a group of seven letterwinners. Junior shortstop-pitcher Matt Sanders batted .273 but had a .490 on-base percentage.

N North Cedar coach Scott Jackson says his should be in the mix with the teams at the top of the Big East with five starters back from last year’s 15-16 team that finished fifth in the conference at 7-4. “We’re baseball smart and the defensive middle of our team returns – catcher, second baseman, shortstop, center fielder,” he says. Amidon is one of two returning first-team all-Big East players back. The other is senior pitcher-outfielder Mike Crist, who batted .330 last season.

N Calamus-Wheatland (6-17, 4-7 Big East last season) will look for more success this year with eight returning letterwinners, including two players who will go on and play baseball in college: Rock, at Cornell, and 6-2, 230-pound third baseman-pitcher Nick Richards, an honorable mention all-league player last year who hit .351 and will attend the University of Dubuque this fall. “We have a good returning core of players that had to learn on the fly last season,” coach Dave Rock says. Pitching is a strength, with everybody back on the mound.

N Northeast (22-6, 10-1 Big East last year) is coming off a conference championship season, and the Rebels are expected to contend again this summer with three experienced pitchers and the top four hitters in the lineup back. The list of seven letterwinners includes team MVP Johnston; sophomore Jordan Howe, who batted .461 and earned first-team all-league honors last year; second-team all-conference third baseman Nick Mohr, a .287 hitter; and honorable-mention all-Big East catcher Jacob Dever, who hit .258 as a sophomore last year. “We have a solid 10 players who should make us competitive in our class,” coach Jeff Howe says.

N Columbus has a pair of first-team all-SEISC North players back in Davis and senior shortstop Jay Meyerholz. In addition, senior catcher Brandon Ball and junior second baseman Joe Zuniga were honorable-mention all-league picks. Columbus finished 13-14 (10-7 confernece) last year and is looking to improve and perhaps contend for the title. “This year we finally have a little experience with seven starters having played together for a year,” coach Edwin Colon says. “Our speed and pitching will be strengths. Our hitting should be strong, as well.”

N Wapello expects to show improvement after going 8-21, 7-11 SEISC, last season. “We should be better this year,” coach Brandon Brown says. “We have a lot of talent, but we’re very young. Pitching is a question mark right now.” In addition to Breon, honorable mention all-conference catcher Blair Humiston, a junior who batted .288 with seven doubles last season, and sophomore third baseman Alex Bartenhagen (.305) return.

N Central DeWitt is looking for continued success in Bill Petsche’s second year as coach, but that might not be easy. The Sabers went 14-24 last season, doubling their win total from 2005. They were 7-13 in conference play. Ian Lawler, who was 3-5 with a 2.71 ERA on the mound, is the only senior letterwinner on the squad, and only one of the eight letterwinners (sophomore catcher-infielder Greg Oldsen at .317) hit above .208 last season. “We are extremely young, with only one senior on the team,” Petsche said. “Six sophomores will see significant playing time.”

N Three seniors who earned second-team all-WaMaC honors last year (first baseman Luke Patterson, outfielder Reid Keeney and pitcher Matt Gerlach) lead a Maquoketa team that enters the season with great optimism. There are eight other letterwinners, too, including honorable-mention all-league shortstop-pitcher Brad Cook, who will try to help the Cardinals improve on their 10-25 record (5-15 conference) record of last summer. “We return experienced seniors and have a group of athletes that want to finish their high school career on a strong note,” coach Pat Bollman says. “Our middle infield should be solid, and we return pitching with varsity experience. We need to fill a spot at third base, develop pitching and hit the ball better.”