WHS baseball: Attitude is key
Worthington public school students were still on the Easter break Monday, but the Trojans baseball team practiced anyway.
Bad spring weather continues to wreak havoc on the regular season, but head coach Skyler Wenninger’s unit had several days to contemplate a promising performance since their last outing on April 12 -- a doubleheader sweep of St. Peter 4-3 and 14-13 at the middle school field.
The two victories came one day after WHS lost 12-1 in five innings to Redwood Valley after giving up 11 runs in the last inning (Worthington was scheduled to play again at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, at home against Marshall).
On Monday, Wenninger said he was pleased at the resiliency showed by his team against St. Peter. The Trojans won the first game 4-3 on a two-run home run by Jake Brandner, who pitched very well in a complete game. They could have folded in the second game after falling behind 8-2 in the fourth and 13-9 after six, but then they scored five runs to take the lead. They almost gave the game away in the seventh, but didn’t. Relief pitcher Cade Grimmius struck out the last batter with the bases loaded.
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Wenninger preaches “attitude” to his players, and it seemed like their attitudes were in a good place in that second St. Peter game.
“You always act like you’re the best player in the room,” said Wenninger, who himself was an outstanding high school and college ballplayer.
Even if you’re not the best, he said, exude confidence. “Be a bulldog,” Wenninger said again on Monday.
It’s a long season ahead, of course (if the weather ever comes around), so Worthington’s baseball season is still uncertain. The coach still wants more consistent hitting out of his troops. He says they sometimes seem “almost too relaxed,” leading to too many pitches taken instead of swung at.
But he now knows they’re capable of getting some big hits. Brandner’s home run put a charge into the team, and Coy Turner homered, too, in the second St. Peter game.
“The St. Peter games, they obviously went well. But we’ve got to get a little better in getting ahead of hitters (with our pitchers), and not giving them big hits,” said the coach.
Grimmius’ pitching performance was interesting, yet finally highly satisfying. The hard-throwing right-handed sophomore was wild in spots in both of the two innings he threw. But he retired the last batter with a strikeout.
Resiliency. Attitude. That’s what Wenninger is talking about.
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What’s happening
The Worthington High School baseball team has a busy week ahead, weather permitting. Besides Tuesday’s game with Marshall, the Trojans are at Fairmont on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) at at home Saturday in a doubleheader with New Ulm beginning at 11 a.m.
Today (Wednesday) the Minnesota West softball team hosts St. Cloud Tech in a twinbill starting at 3 p.m.
On Thursday, the WHS golf team hosts Pipestone Area at 4:15 p.m., the boys tennis team is at Pipestone Area at 4:30 and the softball team hosts Fairmont at 5:30. The Trojans’ track and field squad is at Windom for a meet also featuring Windom Area, Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, Redwood Valley and Southwest Christian/Edgerton with the first event beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The Minnesota West baseball team hosts MPG on Friday at 1 p.m., and the West softball team plays St. Cloud Tech in a home doubleheader starting at 3 p.m.
On Saturday, the WHS boys golf team competes at its own Worthington Boys Invitational with 13 other schools starting at 9 a.m. The Minnesota West softball squad is at Anoka-Ramsey for two games beginning at noon.
