WarEagle players and coaches excited for 2024 season
Members of the Clayton Ridge-Central WarEagle baseball team are (front, left to right) Logan Everitt, Kael Berns, Aiden Wellendorf, Russel Chemlar, Aidan Claycamp, Aidan Finch, Dom Mast, Wyatt Parker, Brock Dudley, Tate Hoeger, Griffen Hammersland; (second row) assistant coach Kole Brandel, Kaden Nehl, Carson Ruegnitz, Evan Claycamp, Jordan Everitt, Kasten Oberbreckling, Myka Bries, Colton Hoeger, Henry Reimer, Braxton Bormann, Mason Loan; (third row) Daltyn Prince, Owen Hammersland, Isaac Loan, Max Nuehring, Kahne Bolsinger, Seth Kregel, Jack Scherf, Tate Armstrong, Nash Reimer, assistant coach Kurt Ross and head coach Casey Zarr. (Photo courtesy of Jarod Bormann)
By Tate Armstrong, Times-Register
Head coach Casey Zarr, along with his assistants, Cole Brandel and Kurt Ross, welcomed players from both Clayton Ridge and Central Elkader to preseason practices that began on Jan. 21. Zarr is entering his third year as head coach of the WarEagle baseball team, and it is Brandel’s sixth and Ross’s first years as assistant coaches. These workouts ran every Sunday, and the coaches also ran hitting practice every Thursday beginning March 7. Their regular season practices begin on April 29. Coaches and players alike were excited for the coming season.
The high school coaches also held a hitting league for fourth through seventh grade boys. This league ran every Tuesday and Thursday from March 5 to 21. A few of the high school players gave the coaches a hand by helping run the stations and teach the kids. The stations included hitting off a pitching machine, hitting off a tee, hitting both heavy and wiffle balls and bunting. On the last day of the league, the boys played speedwalk ball, a baseball game where they used tennis balls instead of baseballs, and all players must speed walk but can’t run.
There are 25 or more players out for the WarEagle team this year. These include four returning starters: juniors Max Nuehring and Kahne Bolsinger, sophomore Braxton Bormann and freshman Owen Hammersland. Two seniors are on the squad, as well as three juniors, eight sophomores, seven freshmen and five eighth graders.
The WarEagles play 25 varsity games this season. Their first game was at home against Starmont on May 13. Most home games will be held at the baseball diamond adjacent to the Clayton Ridge elementary school on the west side of Garnavillo, but there are two dates, June 11 and 17, at the Jack Dittmer Athletic Complex in Elkader. The first round of district play for the state tournament will be on July 6.
War Eagles continue season at Maquoketa Valley, Wapsie Valley
The Clayton Ridge-Central WarEagles continued their season last week at Maquoketa Valley in Delhi on May 20, then at Wapsie Valley on May 22.
The varsity WarEagles dropped their game at Maquoketa Valley 4-1. Kahne Bolsinger went 2-3 with a double and drove in the only run. Colton Hoeger and Seth Kregel both pitched three innings, giving up two runs each. The team played well, but continued to struggle hitting with runners in scoring position.
The Wapsie Valley Warriors were ranked eighth in the state last week, but the WarEagles played their best game of the year and battled to the end. While they dropped the game by a score of 11-5, Jack Scherf held a team averaging almost 10 hits a game to only five hits. The WarEagles had runners in scoring position in six of seven innings, but couldn’t deliver. Bolsinger went 3-4 in the loss.
Clayton Ridge-Central hosted North Fayette Valley for a doubleheader on May 28, then will welcome Edgewood-Colesburg to Garnavillo on May 31.
