Wolverines return to the ball field with game on Thursday

Weiser baseball got underway at Walter Johnson Memorial Field last week. 
 The snow-covered field has been unearthed and the players have been cleaning up and getting down to business at practicing on the field.  The baseball field itself takes a lot of hard work to get it ready to be able to practice on it.  The baseball players themselves along with their parents and coaches do everything from edging, pulling weeds, raking, and dragging the field to get it ready.  There really isn’t another sport besides baseball and softball that has to put in the work on their playing field to get it going. 
 This year hasn’t been much different for the Wolverines.  The weather has been in their favor this past week with sunny skies and not much more in the form of precipitation. 
 Tryouts started last weekend with 30 plus baseball players vying for positions. This year, the Wolverines have a game plan that should lead them to much success during the season and in postseason play. 
 Returning eight starters to the team should bode well against all of the other SRV opponents they will face.  Five of the eight returning players are seniors including Ray Calley, Jarret Mink, Tyler Pope, Dayton Turrentine, and Kooper von Brethorst.
 Weiser is also returning three junior starters including Jack Burke, Willy Shirts, and Brett Spencer.
 All of these players won the consolation trophy two years ago at state baseball but were not able to compete in last year’s season because of the pandemic. 
 This team of Wolverine baseball players has played together since the youth recreation league so teamwork should be a strong suit this year.
 Weiser also has some strong additions to the team that should give an additional offensive and defensive edge to the already strong varsity team.
 Coaching the Wolverines this year is returning 10-year veteran head coach Bowe von Brethorst along with junior varsity coach Kristian Claudio. 
 Claudio played for von Brethorst in high school on a highly successful and competitive team. Claudio was an all-around player including pitching, so he will be an asset on the coaching roster.  Rounding out the list of volunteer coaches for Weiser includes Matt Pritchard, Josh Dolton, Sam Edwards, and Steve Messick.  It truly takes a village to handle all of the team. 
 “It is exciting to be able to play baseball and actually have a season this year, so I have great hopes for this team,” Head Coach Bowe von Brethorst stated.  “Returning eight starters is a big deal, but everyone in the valley is behind a little because of missing the season last year. We have the athletes to go far and be competitive and with the combination of the coaching staff and players that we have this year, a lot will get done,” von Brethorst added. 
 Pitching is an anomaly this year with three left-handed pitchers that will take the mound. Wolverine pitching has been on point the past few years with a lot of depth and this year shouldn’t be any different.
 Defensively, the Wolverines have many athletes who can and will play multiple positions.
 On junior varsity, the number of athletes to develop and make into varsity players is exciting as well.  Because of these numbers, they will have to “platoon play” alternating athletes for each game. It is awesome for the team to have this many athletes to develop and the opportunity to develop them.
 The Wolverines open up their season with a non-conference game against Nampa Christian on Thursday, March 11 here at home.  Nampa Christian is always competitive and will be a good first test for the Wolverines. Come on out and watch some Wolverine baseball.