The Advocate (February 2021)

Blue Jay BaSeBall to
Come BaCk Swinging
Kyle Meyer
Reporter
Last year, the 2020 spring season of WHS
baseball was canceled due to coronavirus,
as the start of the season coincided with the
move to online schooling. This year, after the
district has taken extra precautions and has
learned from experience how to handle sports
during the pandemic, WHS baseball is set to
return. But will last year’s canceled season
affect this season?
“Last year getting canceled left all of us
bummed out,” third baseman junior Will Lingle
said. “I feel like as a JV guy last year, I missed
out on that development stage between being
the young and the old guy.”
That missing experience is set to hurt
some on the varsity team who lost their first
opportunity to play at that level. Senior Luke
Kroeter, who plays as a catcher for the team,
shared how that varied experience will affect
the lineup.
“[Last season being canceled] took away a
whole year of experience for juniors and sophomores
that would have been playing varsity
baseball for the first time,” Kroeter said. “So
now that will affect us a little because we
will only have a few starters who have played
innings of varsity baseball.”
The lack of development and the rust of
not having your typical spring season definitely
may have an impact on the Blue Jays’ game,
but the players have been able to get in some
practice at gyms and while playing summer and
fall ball.
“It is tough to determine exactly how much
the COVID layoff will affect our players,” coach
Dane Gough said. “I know our players did have
the ability to play summer ball either through
our Legion program or other outlets. We also
have been having open gyms to try to prepare
our players for the upcoming season.”
Gough is head coach of the baseball team
this year and has been handling the challenge
of managing expectations this year.
“I have my own personal expectations of
how I want things to run or how I envision
practices, bullpens, games to look,” Gough
said. “I need to set my vision going forward
and teach my players and coaches of that same
expectation.”
As other sports and activities have seen this
year, expectations of how a season will go given
the pandemic changes is never set in stone,
and adaptation and improvement will be a
Photo Submitted by Dane Gough
focus for the Blue Jays, as well as other teams.
“It will be interesting to see and talk to other
coaches on how teams look going forward,”
Gough said. “Game 1 WHS Bluejays will not
be as good as Game 20 WHS Blue Jays. It is my
job to make our team continually improve as
the year goes on.”
A key expectation Gough has set is that the
Blue Jays will be competitive and give it their
all. And the work that the team as a whole
puts into the sport will radically shape the outcome
of this season, which starts March 12.
“ I expect our players to compete in every at
bat, every pitch thrown, every ball hit to them
and every time they are on the base paths,”
Gough said. “It is my job to put the WHS players
in a place for success.”
And the Blue Jays have indeed been putting
in the effort to build teamwork, be competitive
and aim for success. Workouts at the gym have
had a good turnout, with JV and varsity working
together to have both teams at their best by
the start of the season.
“One of the big things that sticks out to
me was the number of guys that showed up,”
Lingle said. “We always had over 20 guys at all
the workouts looking to get better. Not only
that, but the communication we’ve all had with
each other is awesome. Many of the guys give
each other tips, offer guidance, analyze each
other and do a great job making sure everyone
is performing to [their] top tier.”
For the varsity Blue Jay baseball team, they
have set goals to succeed as a team and to be
their best as individual players, and now it is
only a matter of making the team and playing
their best.
“My expectations for the season is to win,”
Kroeter said. “We have been working very hard
this off-season to put us in a good position to
do that, and now it’s just a matter of going out
and doing it.”
SportS
Stuff
Ben Tobben
Sports Editor
After the past few years
of St. Louis Cardinal
baseball, the team has been
stuck in a cycle of winning
enough games to either get
to or barely miss the playoffs.
Since 2000, the Cardinals
have won more games than
lost in every season except
for 2007. With the continuous
success in modern
history, the past few years
have led to the failure either
early in the playoffs or by not
making the playoffs at all. In
2019, however, a possibility
of greatness shined through
with the emergence of star
pitcher Jack Flaherty. The
Cards also made it to the
National League Championship
game, which they hadn’t
attended since 2014. The
addition of Paul Goldschmitt,
one of the best first basemen
in baseball, also was a key
part of the team’s run. However,
2020 was a different
story for the Cardinals with
a disappointing early loss in
the playoffs.
With COVID being a
factor in the disappointing
year, the Cardinals have all
the opportunities in 2021
to shine through as a true
contender to make a deep
playoff run. After the recent
Nolan Arenado trade, who
is debatably the best third
baseman in the MLB, the
Cardinals have a chance to
be one of the best teams
if all things work out. The
offseason also isn’t over yet,
so more key additions could
occur in the coming weeks.
Once fans are allowed in the
stadium, Cardinals fans can
once again see the Red Birds
be successful in person.
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