040618_YKTB_A4.pdf
PAGE 4: SPRING SPORTS 2018
PRESS & DAKOTAN ? PLAIN TALK
Baseball: Bucks Ready For The ‘Challenge’ Of Spring Season
BY BEN HEGGE
BASEBALL
Sports@yankton.net
The spring baseball
season is upon us and the
focus for Yankton in the high
school season is based on
improvement and success.
“We want to focus on
getting better every day and
then the wins will come,”
said first-year head coach
Drew Lawrence. “This team
has a lot of talent and a good
work ethic. It should be a fun
season.”
Lawrence takes over
the program as head coach
for both the high school
and legion seasons. He has
coached Yankton baseball for
11 seasons with 2018 being
his first as head coach.
Often times, teams treat
the high school season as a
spring training for the summer legion season. While success in the legion program is
the ultimate goal for Yankton,
the high school season in
the spring is important said
Lawrence.
“The spring is our time
to get back into things and
gear up for the summer, but
we still want to be successful,” said Lawrence. “Anytime
you go out on the field you
play to win, so we are going
to have that same mentality
when we are on the field this
spring.”
The players share the
same mindset as Lawrence.
Apr. 5
Apr. 9
Apr. 12
Apr. 17
Apr. 20
Apr. 24
Apr. 26
Apr. 28
Apr. 29
May 5
May 6
May 11
May 12
May 14
May 15
May 19
May 26
vs. Vermillion
5:30 p.m.
vs. Huron
5 p.m.
vs. Bon Homme
5 p.m.
vs. Brandon Valley * 6 p.m.
at S.F. Roosevelt * 6:30 p.m.
at S.F. O’Gorman 6:30 p.m.
vs. S.F. Washington 6 p.m.
at Mitchell *
1 p.m.
vs. Brookings *
1 p.m.
vs. S.F. O’Gorman * 1 p.m.
vs. Watertown *
1 p.m.
vs. Mitchell *
6 p.m.
vs. S.F. Roosevelt * 1 p.m.
vs. Harrisburg
5 p.m.
vs. S.F. Lincoln
5 p.m.
Regions
TB D
State Tourn. (Sioux Falls)
* - Doubleheader
“We are going to play to
win,” said Yankton junior
Ethan Wishon. “We have a
great group of guys, who
have been working together
and putting in the work. We
are all just looking forward to
getting on the field.”
But, that has been the
problem for Yankton: just
getting on the field. Mother
Nature has allowed for few
outdoor practices, and
resulted in the postponement
of the first game.
“It can be tough when you
aren’t on the field much,”
said Wishon. “But we have
still been able to hit inside,
and when we do get on the
field, we have put a lot of
work in.”
“We have been outside
five times in the first three
weeks of practice,” said Lawrence. “Fortunate we have
been blessed with being able
to use the indoor facilities at
Mount Marty when we can’t
get outside.”
The roster for the high
school season returns a
lot of talent, but still some
unanswered questions said
Lawrence. Building depth will
be a big key for Yankton, especially in the spring season.
“We have some ball players on this team, and these
kids have proven that,” said
Lawrence. “With that being
said, we still have some
positions to fill. We need to
build depth, especially in the
pitching staff.”
Although the opener got
postponed, it will be a busy
two month of baseball for
Yankton as they play their 23game regular season schedule in just under 40 days.
“This is the best time of
the year. The baseball season
can be a grind, but we are
excited for the challenge,”
said Lawrence. “Our goal is
for this spring season to be
a step in the right direction
toward gearing up for the
legion season.”
The high school Region
Tournament takes place on
May 19 with the State Tournament beginning on May 26.
Yankton opened the season at home against Vermillion on Thursday, April 5.
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Tennis
FROM PAGE 3
together for a long time. They
took their lumps early on and
now it’s their time to shine.
There is no excuse anymore,
it’s their time,” Hage said.
The roster sees four returning seniors: Giang Nguyen, Guthrie Scoblic, Gerrit
Dykstra and Hunter Rockne.
Hage has great confidence in
his senior class and depends
on them to be leaders both
on and off the court.
“I depend on my seniors
to be leaders and convey
any message I’m trying to
give the team. They take a
chunk of my responsibility
so I can focus on developing
the younger players, Hunter
Rockne has done an excellent
job in that regard, I’m very
lucky to have him not only as
one of our top players, but
basically a second coach,”
Hage said.
One of those developing
young players is eighth grader Gage Becker, who placed
eighth in the state tournament a season ago. Hage
knows the future success of
Yankton tennis depends on
the interest younger kids take
in the sport.
“We just have to keep
the young players playing
and gaining experience, we
have a real healthy group of
seventh and eighth graders
aside from Gage [Becker] on
the roster right now and I see
us being competitive in the
future as they grow older and
take more responsibility on
the team,” Hage said.
While the development
of younger players is vital to
the team’s future, Yankton is
ready to compete now. The
senior class will be depended
on, but the roster will also
see sophomores Brennan
Pipes and Nick Gregoire,
each of whom improved their
games over the winter. Senior
leader Rockne remains optimistic that the team will perform well this season despite
an injury to a key player.
“I think we definitely have
the potential to place at
one of the top spots at the
ESD conference this year.
We’re down our flight three,
Michael Frick, due to a back
injury. He is a key part of
our team. Gerrit Dykstra will
be filling in for him and will
Lawrence Set To Take Yankton Baseball Helm
BY BEN HEGGE
sports@yankton.net
There will be a new coach
at the helm of the Yankton
Baseball program for the
upcoming season spring and
summer baseball seasons,
and it is a face familiar to
many.
Drew Lawrence will not
only coach Yankton this
spring, but take over the
Legion program as well. Lawrence has coached Yankton
baseball for 11 years, coaching in every age division
along the way.
“I am excited for the
opportunity to lead this
great program that already
has a strong tradition,” said
Lawrence. “I look forward to
all of the challenges along the
way.”
Lawrence is a 2008 graduate of Mount Marty College
where he played baseball.
He got his start in coaching
Yankton baseball while in
college, acting as an assistant
coach for the Yankton Reds.
When the Yankton
Baseball Association (YBA)
planned their coaching staffs
for the 2018 seasons, they
has specifics in mind.
“The YBA wanted a coach
who was going to be the face
of our program. We wanted
someone who was going
to be involved all year and
could oversee our coaches
and run the program from
13 and under all the way to
legion,” said Yankton Baseball Association president
Jason Nelson. “Drew was the
perfect fit. He’s got a plan for
this program to be successful.”
Often times with a new
coach it takes time for
players and coaches to
get acquainted with each
other and for chemistry to
develop. However, that is
not the case here. Lawrence
has coached all of the kids in
the high school program at
some point in their baseball
careers.
“We have a new coach this
year, but we really don’t have
Drew Lawrence (pointing), shown here in a 2016 photo,
takes over the Yankton club high school and American Legion baseball programs this year.
a new coach if that makes
sense,” said Yankton junior
Ethan Wishon. “We are all
familiar with Coach Lawrence
and have a good understanding of what he expects out of
us. It is a great fit.”
While the Bucks are yet
to take the field in the spring
season as of April 1st, Lawrence has already had to deal
with interesting complications as the head coach.
“This has been a tough
spring as far as weather
goes,” he said. “We have
not been able to get outside
much for practice, so that results in a lot if indoor time at
the cages. It can make things
difficult, but we are very
thankful for the help Andy
Bernatow and Mount Marty
have provided us.”
Another interesting situation Lawrence has dealt with
in his first season, is being
without five key players for
pre-season practice. But, this
is a good problem to have
said Lawrence.
“With the unforgettable
state basketball run that took
place, I didn’t want any of our
kids on the basketball team
practicing any baseball for
obvious reasons,” he said.
“Those players are a little
bit behind, but it’s well worth
it. They are champions, and
you want players like that
on your team to have those
experiences.”
Nick Gusso will be the
assistant coach for the high
school season, while Nik
Davis will head the junior varsity program.
“We will have a number of
new coaches for the summer teams, too,” said Jason
Nelson. “Drew will be able to
set goals and plan with those
coaches on how the entire
YBA can succeed.”
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Golf: New-Look Tanagers Set For Season
BY ELYSE BRIGHTMAN
Elyse.brightman@plaintalk.net
Hunter Rockne is one of four seniors for the Bucks, who
are 2-0 on the season.
do very well for how much
he has improved. I think we
have the potential to place in
the top of the state for sure.
It will just come down to
who plays better each day,”
Rockne said.
That optimism is shared
throughout the team, and
Hage credits his team’s tight
knit relationship with each
other as the key factor.
“Our strength is our kids,
they are a tight knit group of
young men who have basically been playing together
their entire lives, they are
really a second family to each
other,” Hage said.
“When things get down
they are there for each other
as well as being there for
each other when things are
going well, they really are
good at riding the highs and
weathering the lows, but they
are close enough that they really don’t have many lows.”
Possible lows could
include facing off against
Sioux Falls and Rapid City
schools. Sioux Falls Lincoln
dominated the state tournament last season and looks to
repeat their impressive performance. Hage knows what
his team’s shortcomings
and strengths are, and what
needs to be done to compete
with the big city schools.
“We know that they [Sioux
Falls & Rapid City] have more
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kids and the ability to train
year-round, but we can’t
use that as an excuse to not
compete. We focus the time
we do have on technical
skills and depend on senior
leadership to lead the way.
We know we don’t have the
same height, size or length of
the bigger schools. You can’t
coach height, but you can
coach discipline,” Hage said,
with a laugh.
“We want to compete
with everybody, that’s not
to say we are going to beat
everybody, but we will be
competitive in every match
all season. I just want everybody’s strengths to shine on
the court, so they can win
their matches.”
Yankton’s season kicked
off on March 27, when it
swept Bishop Heelan Catholic
High School and Vermillion.
The state tournament and
season conclude in Rapid
City from May 17-19.
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Dakotan
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Golf is all about numbers, and the Vermillion
High School girls’ golf team is playing a different
kind of numbers game this season.
The Tanagers find themselves without five of the
top eight golfers from last year’s squad, but return
two state qualifiers with senior Kara Mulheron and
sophomore Alex Carr.
“Those two probably have the more experience
at the varsity level,” said head coach Kirk Hogan.
“Then we have a bunch of new ones coming back
out, some young ones and some older ones that are
giving golf a try.”
Beyond that, Hogan will have to figure out the
new lineup with just one lost to graduation, one to
an early graduation and the rest due to conflicts
with other school activities.
That means Mulheron and Carr will be looked at
to mentor the younger and less experienced golfers
through the season in order to make another appearance at the state tournament in June.
“They will be two good leaders just by being
themselves and showing up and practicing and doing the things they need to do or have to do, especially with them having younger sisters. They know
what it’s all about with mentoring the younger ones
and that is sort of nice,” Hogan said.
At last year’s state meet Carr and Mulheron shot
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3/20
3/26
4/3
4/10
4/13
4/17
Track & Field
4/20
4/24
5/1
Dan Lennon (Vermillion)
Lounsbery Early Bird
ccd.
Scotland Inv.
2 p.m.
Rotary Relays (Centerville) 1 p.m.
Avon Inv.
4:30 p.m.
South Dakota/Nebraska
Challenge (Tyndall)
2 p.m.
Flevares Relays (Tyndall) 4:30 p.m.
Great Plains Conf. (Burke) 11 a.m.
Little Missouri Valley Conf. 2 p.m.
5/5
5/8
5/11
AC-DC Inv. (Lake Andes)
SESD (Wagner)
Ethan-Parkston Inv.
(at Avon)
(at Mount Vernon)
9 a.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
4/6
Boys’ & Girls’ Golf
Class B Classic
(at Lakeview GC, Mitchell)
10 a.m.
4/12
Southeast S.D. Small School 9 a.m.
4/20
BSC/Gregory Inv.
10 a.m.
Avon/Scotland Inv.
10 a.m.
PG/BSC Inv.
10 a.m.
Avon/Bon Homme Inv.
10 a.m.
4/27
(at Fox Run GC, Yankton)
(Boys at Burke, Girls at Gregory)
(Boys at Bon Homme CC, Girls at Scotland)
5/4
5/11
(Boys at Platte, Girls at Burke)
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DWU Indoor Inv.
Ethan-Parkston Early Bird
2 p.m.
4/5
(Boys at Bon Homme CC, Girls at Spring?eld)
5/18
Track & Field
3/27
4/3
Burnell Glanzer Inv.
2 p.m.
4/10
4/13
4/17
4/20
4/26
5/1
Wagner Relays
2 p.m.
Avon Inv.
4:30 p.m.
South Dakota/Nebraska
Challenge (Tyndall)
2 p.m.
Flevares Relays (Tyndall) 4:30 p.m.
Erv Ptak Inv. (Menno)
3 p.m.
Little Missouri Valley Conf. 2 p.m.
5/5
5/8
5/11
AC-DC Inv. (Lake Andes)
SESD (Wagner)
Ethan-Parkston Inv.
(at Mount Vernon)
(at Armour)
(at Avon)
(at Mount Vernon)
9 a.m.
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
Girls’ Golf
4/12
Southeast S.D. Small School 9 a.m.
4/20
4/27
5/4
5/11
BSC/Gregory Inv. (Gregory) 10 a.m.
Avon/Scotland Inv. (S)
10 a.m.
PG/BSC Inv. (Burke)
10 a.m.
Avon/Bon Homme Inv. (Spring?eld)
or Winner Inv.
10 a.m.
Pre-Region (Mitchell)
10 a.m.
5/21
(at Fox Run GC, Yankton)