A youthful Elk Mound baseball squad returns just three letter winners
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THE 2021 ELK MOUND High School Baseball Team. Front row (L to R): Lucas Johnson, Brett Rosenthal, Ethan Johnson, Avery Kaanta, Ryan Bohl, Joseph Javanovich, Carter Vieth, Carter Garnett, Jake Osborne, Devin Balts, Lance Gorham, and Gus Scharlau. Back row (L to R): Christian Hall, Sam Roder, Logan Smith, Grant Mueller, Sam Wenzel, Kaden Russo, Nate Lew, Ben Heath, Jerome Delikowski, Caleb Beskow, Aidan Balts, Devan Sheffler, Landon Casellius, and Evan Webster. Not pictured are Caden Steffen-Ludwig and Ryan Bartig. —photo submitted
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
ELK MOUND — For the past several years, Elk Mound baseball has been considered somewhat of a powerhouse in the area, with teams usually finishing near the top of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.
With no season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, head coach Paul Andrea will have only three returning letter winners which leaves him with a lot of young players to fill out his varsity squad.
Andrea begins his 22nd season leading the Mounders who finished 13-6 overall and 12-4 in conference play for third place in 2019.
Experienced players from that squad who are back include senior Ryan Bohl as a pitcher and infielder and fellow senior Nate Lew, a Second Team All Conference pick as a sophomore, another pitcher who will also play centerfield. Also returning is junior Avery Kaanta, a pitcher and infielder.
The Mounders lost their top two pitchers, Blaze Todd who graduated in 2019 and James Javarovich, a 2020 graduate but, coach Andrea believes pitching depth should still be one of the Mounder’s strengths this year.Like most teams in the area, not having a season in 2020 has lead to a lot of unknowns this year.
“With so many newcomers to our team, we’ll have to wait and see how things evolve this year,” he said.
“We hope to compete for a conference championship this year and the rest will take care of itself,” he added.
Andrea expects Boyceville and Spring Valley, who both return several letter winners from teams that were the best in the conference in 2019, to be the top competition this year.
Randy Simpson and Jon Chisholm will assist Andrea, who brings a 261-137 coaching record to the diamond when the season begins April 27 in Colfax.
2021 Roster
Seniors: Ryan Bohl, Ben Heath, Nate Lew, Aiden Balts, Sam Roder, Logan Smith, Christian Hall, Brett Rosenthal
Juniors: Avery Kaanta, Ethan Johnson, Joseph Javanovich
Sophomores: Jerome Delikowski, Ryan Bartig
Freshmen: Carter Vieth, Kaden Russo