By JIM LUTGENS
Sports Editor
A new head coach is in place for the NRHEG High School baseball team in 2024, but he's no stranger to the Panthers.
Shawn Larson, longtime assistant baseball coach and the varsity wrestling coach, will lead NRHEG on the diamond last spring.
While the Panthers have no seniors on their roster, a number of key players are back from last spring's team that finished 10-2 for second in the Gopher Conference and 11-5 overall.
Larson looks for good things from juniors Alden Dobberstein (P/SS/2B), Carter Martens (P/3B) and Jace Ihrke (P/C), and sophomore Jared Lee (P/1B/OF).
The other juniors are Aaden Hanna (P/OF), Mayson Patten (3B), Aidan Schlaak (P/IF), Seth Staloch (SS/2B) and Brock Ziemke (1B).
Varsity sophomores includ Isaac Bauleke (OF), Jordan Brouwers (OF/3B, Wyatt Larson (P/C/3B), Deven Parpart (P/IF/OF) and Owen Wayne (P/2B/SS).
"It is unkown at this time if we will be using any freshmen," said Coach Larson. "Alden Dobberstein, Carter Martens, Jace Ihrke and Jared Lee are all varsity returning players who we expect to stand out on our team this season."
As for new player impact, Larson looks forward to contributions from everyone.
"We have a cast of players that are capable of good things," said Larson. "Look for players like Aidan Schlaak, Wyatt Larson, Owen Wayne, Jordan Brouwers, and Deven Parpart to have good seasons and really help out the Panthers in the 2024 season."
Larson looks for wide-open races for both the Gopher Conference and section championships, and he believes the Panthers can contend.
"We have potential to be competing for both the section and conference title," said Larson. "Our section has several teams that will be contenders for the title. If I had to pick a favorite, I would have to pick Belle Plaine to be the top contender for the section. Our conference is extremely talented this season. United South Central, Maple River, Hayfield, Randolph, and Kenyon-Wanamingo are all teams that can win. Based of of last season, I would say that USC is probably the preseason favorite."
Larson, who replaces Mark Lee as head coach, will be assisted by first-year coach Marcus Fischer and former NRHEG head coach Jeff Reese.
“We have a plan as a team to use people in as many was as possible, so being able to know every role and help everybody else know every role is very important, because we don’t have a lot of guys,” said Dobberstein. “We need multiple people to do multiple things. I think the most important thing is building a family within the team.”
Lee, a sophomore, said he feels no pressure this season, but the lack of outside practice could be a challenge for the Panthers.
“We haven’t had a lot of outside time, so if we can get started on a hot streak, fix things as soon as possible rather than letting them build on each other,” said Lee. “Because it’s going to be hard not being outside, getting right into the games.”
So who’s going to pitch for the 2024 Panthers?
“Jared and Alden will probably be our ringers,” said Coach Larson. “Right now I’m looking to not have an ace, but have a crew of people who can pitch. We don’t have a lot of arms, but we have arms.”
Larson, who recently completed his 20th year with the wrestling team, has been with the baseball program since 2007.
“I’ve always been someone who loved to play baseball,” said Larson. “When I was in junior high, I was a better golfer than baseball player, so I had people that convinced me to be on the golf team, and then as time went I just realized that I had a passion for baseball and wanted to be a part of it.”
Larson is excited to take over as head baseball coach.
“I’m happy to be in this position,” he said. “I think what steered me in this direction is that my son was still playing and there were enough kids on the team that I had coached before that I didn’t want to let down. I wanted to have my name in the ring.”
And Larson looks forward to the season.
“It’s not really about coaching my son, it’s making sure he gets the opportunity to do what he likes,” said Larson. “I love NRHEG baseball. I want to see what it can do.”
Larson, who served as an assistant coach under Reese, said he’s fantastic to have him back with the NRHEG program.
“He’s just a fantastic guy,” said Larson. “As far as his knowledge of baseball, I don’t think there’s anybody that’s going to beat that, especially in this area. He’s capable of coming up with stuff that gives us pointers in the fine details that maybe of us miss. You can’t have a better guy around, really.”
And how does Larson feel about coaching a team with no seniors?
“I’m trying to convince these guys that you look at it as a positive,” he said. “The one positive that you can take out of this is that we have everybody for two years. And it also gives those without varsity experience a little more experience being on the varsity. Obviously, the down side is that we don’t have those really good players, but when you look at it from a positive standpoint, we have a team that can do some things even though we’re not experienced seniors. We can go out there and score some runs, move players around and be good on defense, so I think we’re going to be O.K.”
In conclusion, Larson said like to have as many people as possible attending home games at Jeff and Carol Reese Field.
“We’d love to see everybody all the time,” he said.
NRHEG 2024 Baseball Schedule
April 4 vs. Randolph, 4:30
April 8 at Triton, 4:30
April 9 at Blue Earth Area, 5 p.m.
April 11 vs. United South Central, 4:30
April 12 at Granada-Huntley-EC/ML, 5 p.m.
April 18 at Waseca, 5 p.m.
April 22 vs. Blooming Prairie, 4:30
April 25 at Hayfield, 4:30
April 26 vs. Pine Island, 7 p.m.
April 29 vs. JWP, 4:30
May 2 at Kenyon-Wanamingo, 4:30
May 6 vs. Madelia-Truman, 4:30
May 7 vs. Tri-City United, 5 p.m.
May 9 vs. Maple River, 4:30
May 10 at LCWM, 5 p.m.
May 13 at Medford, 4:30
May 16 at WEM, 4:30