Pirates baseball is back; young team set to start season on Friday
GILMAN BASEBALL PREVIEW
The first Gilman Pirates varsity baseball team since 2019 will be young, but head coach Dave Kroeplin hopes it won’t be long before it plays fearlessly in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference.
The 2019 Pirates finished second in the league standings, but then Covid wiped out the 2020 season and low numbers forced the program to co-op with Thorp in the altered 2021 season and play only at the JV level last spring.
Now, with 12 players on the roster, the Pirates are back and anxious for the snow to melt to see exactly what they have.
“We’re back to varsity baseball,” Kroeplin said. “It’s going to be nerve wracking because it’s a higher level that they’ve never seen, especially the sophomores and the freshmen. The freshmen will go from junior high baseball right to the varsity level, so they’re going to see some pitches they’ve never seen before.
Playing JV last year helped a lot with our sophomores, all of the kids actually. Playing at that lower level gave them a lot of confidence going into this year for sure.”
Gilman was scheduled to start the season with three home games, including what would have been beneficial non-conference matchups with Flambeau and Thorp. Gilman’s field still was nowhere ready for Monday’s scheduled conference opener with Columbus Catholic, who the Pirates are now slated to host on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Gilman should be able to open its season Friday at Neillsville.
Five sophomores and four freshmen fill three-fourths of Gilman’s roster, which is led by senior Grady Kroeplin, the one player who did start with the Thorp-Gilman co-op two years ago. Junior Dalton Wisocky also played with that co-op in 2021 and junior Adam Draeger is the team’s third upperclassman.
Grady Kroeplin, no doubt, will be an important player for the Pirates as he will pitch, catch and likely see some time at shortstop as well.
“I think I’m going to put Grady behind the plate when he’s not pitching so he can control the field a little more,” Dave Kroeplin said. “It’ll be either there or shortstop. Passed balls will hurt more than anything, especially if there are guys on base. He’ll be pitching when he can.” The other player likely to rotate in at shortstop is sophomore Joey Syryczuk, who figures to pitch as well. Wisocky is another likely pitcher, who also spent a lot of time last year at second base. Along with Syryczuk, Brayden Olyinick, Talyn Podolak, Trevor Vick and Wyatt Webster are the returning sophomores. Anthony Syryczuk, Dawson Grunseth, Dawson Robinson and Alex Copenhaver are the freshmen. “They’re all going to see the field quite a bit I think until I really get stuff figured out,” said coach Kroeplin, who is once again assisted by Justin Young. “They’ll have to work hard for a spot. I know that. They’ll have to learn multiple positions and all of those situations.” The Pirates won more games than they lost in their JV schedule a year ago and Kroeplin said there appears to be some momentum gained from last year.
“They gained a lot of experience from that,” he said. “It’s a lot different than junior high. I’m pretty excited and coach Young is pretty excited too because we really haven’t had to go backwards on anything. We just brushed up a little bit on mechanics and drills and we were able to go right back at it. We weren’t spending a whole week on how to catch a ball, how to throw a ball, base stealing, leading off or situational stuff.”
Who plays where on a given day obviously depends on who is pitching. Kroeplin said he and Young are encouraged by the number of potential arms they have despite the smallish roster. Kroeplin noted for the first time he can remember, he has a lefty on his pitching staff with Grunseth.
Fortunately, there are catching options too with Joey Syryczuk, Anthony Syryczuk and Copenhaver all getting in some work behind the plate during the team’s mostly indoor practices.
“A good thing is that a lot of these kids are versatile,” Kroeplin said. “They can play other positions. Catching is a really, really important spot. We have to throw strikes. I told the kids, just throw strikes. That’s what we need. They’re working on some junk too. But they’re throwing pretty good in the gym. We’ll see what happens outside where it’s a different atmosphere.”
Olynick played a lot at first base and would be a capable outfielder if needed there. Webster was the team’s primary third baseman last spring. Draeger was the team’s leftfielder and is likely to start out the season there again. Podolak got experience in the outfield and at second base and has taken some reps at third base in practice. Grunseth, Vick and Anthony Syryczuk are all being looked at as multi-position players and Robinson should see time at first base.
“A few of them can really track the ball,” Kroeplin said of his outfielders. “I’m not real nervous about the outfield. I’m not really nervous about anything at all. They just have to play the game and not think so hard on making mistakes.
They’re young and they’re going to be nervous about it. In baseball, it’s going to happen. As my old coach used to say, baseball happens.”
Offensively, the Pirates’ goal is to put the ball in play to make things happen.
“Last year, they hit well,” Kroeplin said. “This year it’s a higher level with better pitching, faster pitching, but I don’t see any problems for us. We’re going to make contact for sure. They’ll be contact hitters. We don’t have a lot of power. We just need guys on base. Home runs are great, but if you don’t have anybody on base in certain situations, it’s not doing us any good.”
The Pirates re-join an Eastern Cloverbelt Conference that was dominated last season by Columbus Catholic, who went a perfect 10-0 in league play and ended its season at the WIAA Division 4 state tournament. The Dons did graduate four starters, but the rest are back, making them a strong favorite.
From there, parity pretty much defined the rest of the conference. Greenwood and Spencer went 5-5 in league play, Neillsville was 4-6 and Loyal and Owen-Withee both went 3-7.
Neillsville got an impressive 10-0, nohit win over Thorp in its April 3 opener and Spencer routed Nekoosa 14-2 that same day but then got blown out by Auburndale 19-3 on April 6.
At this early stage with extended winter hurting most everyone’s ability to get on a field and test what they have, who the top challengers will be is anyone’s guess.
“I expect to win games this year,” Kroeplin said. “We definitely have talent. The kids came back into the gym this year and didn’t lose much from last year. That was really nice. They’re working really, really hard. They’re paying attention to detail.
“We’re definitely going to compete. I don’t see a lot of run-rule games. I have faith in these kids. They’re young but they’re working hard and they look good right now. We’ll see when they take it to the field.”
