Abby/Colby baseball eyes fourth straight title

By Nathaniel Underwood

This year’s members of the Abbotsford/ Colby baseball team have not known a season that did not end with a Marawood-North conference championship under their belts. For the past three seasons, the co-op squad has held the top spot in the conference, going 27-3 against Marawood-North foes over that stretch, including an undefeated conference campaign last year. With plenty of players returning to the diamond, the Abbotsford/ Colby squad appears well-positioned to make a run for their fourth straight conference championship and expand upon their two playoff wins last year.

“Our kids set a goal to win conference and regionals and make it to Appleton,” cohead coach Ryan Bargender said. “Our senior group would love to win a conference championship every year in high school. We’ve kind of raised the bar as far as work ethic goes and what we expect out of the guys and the group we have really loves baseball and they want to put forth the effort to get things done.”

“Not too many players can say they’ve won a conference championship all four years,” co-head coach Brett Nelson added. “So it’s something cool to strive for, but also almost an expectation at this point for this class.”

While first-team all-conference selections Brandon Diedrich and Mateo Lopez have graduated, the 2024 co-op will retain plenty of the firepower that pushed them to a 19-6 record a year ago. Seniors JV Castillo, Blake Bargender and Evan Reis also were named first-team all-conference in 2023 and Castillo was the Marawood-North Player of the Year in 2022. The battery of Castillo and Bargender, both of whom have committed to play baseball for UW-River Falls, will likely be Abby/Colby’s go-to options on the mound and behind the plate while Reis will continue to anchor the outfield while spending some time on the mound himself. Castillo struck out a team high 46 batters in 33 and 2/3 innings with a 3.33 ERA while Reis posted a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched last season.

All three seniors bring solid bats to the equation, with both Reis and Castillo boasting an OPS over 1.000 and Bargender leading the team with a batting average of .440 and driving in the second most runs with 23 in 2023. Speed on the basepaths is also a plus, with Castillo snatching 21 stolen bases last year and Reis adding another 11.

Junior Payton Schreiber was a second team all-conference selection last year and senior Carlos Lara was an honorable mention and both will also be key pieces in the Abby/Colby lineup and on the mound. Lara drove in 19 runs a season ago, behind just Bargender and Reis for returners and Schreiber had an OPS of .926 while also posting a 3.50 ERA while striking out 24 batters in 18 innings. Senior Nano Lopez will also be back at second base and on the mound, where he had a 3-0 record in seven appearances and a 2.33 ERA in 2023.

Senior Preston Bunkleman, junior AJ Brodhagen, and sophomore Koren Decker are newcomers to the varsity lineup and will be looked to as key contributors both in the field and at the plate.

“We have a lot of returning hitters that can do some major damage,” Bargender said of the co-op’s potential lineup this season. “We can hit doubles, triples, home runs and also hit for average. We have some strong kids who can hit the ball.

Numbers could be a challenge for the coop, however, if injuries occur.

“Having 15, 16 kids and with some injuries or ineligibility, it could be a challenge,” Nelson said. “Pitching we could be a little thin at, but consistency will be important. We have a solid enough defense and what we are anticipating as a high powered offense that if we just get the ball over the plate, let’s just play some defense behind them and hit the ball.”

However, having a smaller team has its advantages as well, as Nelson quickly noted.

“But it’s also nice to have such a tight group, especially with our seniors,” he added. “One of their strengths is their leadership; they can really bring all these guys in and have a tight group.”

While the team has their sights set high, much of the Marawood-North will likely be improved this year compared to last.

“It won’t be easy,” Bargender noted. “Our conference returns a ton of all-conference players. There’s a lot of teams that will be in the mix. They were all close last year. I think Rib Lake, on paper, will be one of the top teams. Phillips, Chequamegon and Athens will all be in the mix and Prentice is going to be improved as well, so it’s going to be a fight every game.”

With conference rivals looking to supplant the co-op’s hold over the Marawood- North and plenty of challenging non-conference games on the schedule, the Abbotsford/Colby squad will hope to be battle tested by the time playoffs roll around. The strategy seemed to work last year, as the team picked up two playoff wins before running into a tough Mosinee lineup in the regional final. They will be looking to build upon this postseason success, hoping to make an even deeper run in June.

The journey towards the goal began this past week when the team traveled to Millington, TN for a tournament against teams from across the country. Abby/Colby went 1-2 in those contests, winning their first game against Rensselaer Central, IN before falling to Forreston, IL and Chicago Hope Academy, IL.

Rensselaer Central, 11-0

An impressive performance from Schreiber on the mound plus a big fourth inning at the plate for the co-op helped them cruise to an 11-0 victory over the Rensselaer Central Bombers in their first game in Tennessee.

The junior pitcher went all five innings in a game abbreviated due to the run differential. He only surrendered one hit all day, and while the Bombers managed a few other baserunners via walks, Schreiber and the Abby/Colby defense shut them out. Schreiber struck out 11 on the day while walking four to earn the win.

While the co-op took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, they would need to count on their defense to hold on while their lineup settled in. Rensselaer Central held them scoreless in the second and third and, despite the Bombers lack of success at the plate, it was still a close game as the midway point closed in.

However, the co-op finally broke through in the fourth, scoring seven runs in the top of the inning to take a dominant 8-0 lead. Three more runs in the top of the fifth pushed Abby/Colby over the mercy rule limit and after holding the Bombers in the bottom half of the inning, they came away with an 11-0 shutout.

Schreiber was also a big part of the coop’s success at the plate. He went 2-for-4, knocking in four runs for his team in the process. Bargender also had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs himself. Castillo and Reis scored two runs each and Nano Lopez went 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. Both Castillo and Lopez notched stolen bases.

Forreston, 7-0

While the Abby/Colby bats came alive in their first game of the tournament, the same could not be said for their Wednesday affair against the Forreston Cardinals. The co-op was held to just four hits and a pair of three run innings for the Cards allowed them to walk away with a comfortable 7-0 victory.

See BASEBALL PREVIEW/ Page 16

2024 ABBY-COLBY BASEBALL - The 2024 baseball team, pictured above starting in the back row left to right are Owen Hanson, Preston Bunkelman, Arturo Lopez, Blake Bargender, Carlos Lara, Evan Reis and Payton Schreiber. In the front row, left to right are Hector Lopez, Koren Decker, JV Castillo, Nano Lopez, Jose Guerrero-Capetillo and Jaxston Malzahn. In the front is manager Keith Vazquez Castillo. Not pictured are AJ Brodhagen, Carson Folz and manager Gabriela Bargender. The co-op is coached by Brett Nelson and Ryan Bargender. STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Baseball preview

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While Castillo struck out eight over his four innings of work, Forreston managed to get enough baserunners to cause the Abby/Colby starter trouble. Five walks and six hits turned into four runs for the Cardinals in the early going, including a three-run second that put them in charge early. While Castillo managed to limit the damage following the big inning for the Cardinals, the lack of offense from the co-op meant they were still looking at a significant deficit heading into the later portions of the contest.

The Cardinals jumped on Nano Lopez in relief, tagging him for three earned runs in the bottom of the fifth. Without much going on offense for Abby/Colby, the 7-0 score turned out to be the final.

Castillo went 2-for-3 from the plate and walked once, Bargender added another hit and a walk in his four plate appearances and Koren Decker went 1-for-2 with a walk in the loss. While the co-op only had four hits, two hit batsmen and four walks also meant that they had opportunities with men on base but could not find a way to capitalize on them, leaving 11 runners stranded.

Chicago Hope Academy, 11-6

The final game of the tournament turned out to be their closest, but once again the co-op found itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard. A four-run top of the fifth turned things in favor of the Chicago Hope Academy Eagles and four more insurance runs in the top of the seventh helped seal their 11-6 victory over Abby-Colby.

After trading runs in the second, the co-op took the lead in the bottom of the third, pushing across two runs to take a 3-1 advantage. However, the Eagles were able to answer right back in the top of the fourth, adding two runs of their own to tie things back up. Abby/Colby was held without a run in the bottom half of the inning and the tide shifted in the fifth.

Chicago Hope Academy rattled off four hits while picking up two walks in the top of the frame, which eventually led to four runs for the Eagles. Now in a four run hole, the co-op needed an answer, but instead were held scoreless in the fifth and the sixth. While they managed to put up three runs in the bottom of the seventh, it was too little too late for Abby/Colby, as the Eagles had scored four more runs in the top of the frame.

Reis started on the mound, going four innings and giving up three earned runs on five hits and two walks. He also struck out four.

Nano Lopez was tagged with the loss, surrendering four runs on four hits in one inning on the mound. Lara also pitched in relief for the co-op, going two innings while striking out three and walking one. All four of his runs surrendered were unearned.

Castillo had another multi-hit game, going 3-for-4 and collecting his first extra base hit, a triple, of the season. Reis and Lopez also had extra base hits, both connecting for doubles in their appearances, with Lopez collecting a team high two RBIs. Bunkelman went 2-for-4 from the plate and scored a run while Bargender and Schreiber each collected a hit and came around to score.