Elk Mound baseball team will work to finish strong in final D-SC Conference season
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THE ELK MOUND BASEBALL TEAM will look to repeat as Dunn-St. Croix Champions in 2025. This will be the Mounders’ final season in the D-SC as they move to the Cloverbelt West Conference this fall. Front row (L to R): Brody Ferguson, Brody Kohnke, Logan Osborne, Brooks Miller, Parker Rhude, Marcus Folczyk and Adam Jones. Second row (L to R): Kaden Books, Dylan Mueller, Nathan Miller, Rowan Kaminski, Will Thatcher, Brayden Borek, Colton Plemon, Brayden Steig and Payton Liphardt. Third row (L to R): CJ Brunner, Peyton Vieth, Ian Gerrits, Nels Tanula, Kamron Diermeier, Chase Adams, Gavin Dean and Trent Spehle. Back row (L to R): Easton Chisholm, Quintin Spehle, Kaden Moyer, Conor Mock, Victor Noller, Logan Jerome, Dylan Plets, Mason Books, Blake Niska, Isaac Schnell. Not pictured are Dru Schiszik and Bodie Severson. Managers (not pictured) are Remy Chisholm, Henry Schultz and Trent Thatcher. Coaches (not pictured) are Paul Andrea, Jon Chisholm and David Lew. —photo submitted
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
ELK MOUND — Coming off one of the best seasons in program history, the Elk Mound baseball team will need to replace six seniors who all played a key role in their Dunn-St. Croix Conference and regional championship last year.
The Mounders finished 21-2 overall and 14-0 in conference play. Their only regular season loss was to La Crosse Logan, and after defeating Mondovi twice in conference play, their season ended with a 4-1 loss to that same Mondovi team in the sectional semifinal game.
Major losses from the team include Kaden Russo, Carter Vieth, Lucas Johnson and Jake Osborne along with Carter Garnett and Brady Amble.
Russo was the Conference Player of the Year and Division 3 District Player of the Year and led the Mounders at the plate with a .523 batting average while recording a team-leading eight wins from the pitcher’s mound. He also led the team in RBIs with 43. He has taken his talents to Division 2 Concordia-St. Paul.
Vieth was second in batting at .477 with 25 RBIs and was the starting catcher for three years for Elk Mound. He is now playing for UW-Eau Claire.
Vieth, Johnson and Osborne were all named All-Conference.
Returning letter winners include Kamron Diermeier, who earned six wins on the mound as a junior, and fellow senior Brayden Borak. Juniors are Victor Noller and Peyton Vieth. All four of them contributed in a big part last season in the line-up and on the mound, according to head coach Paul Andrea.
Many newcomers look to contribute this year to fill the losses of a very talented senior group, Andrea stated as he begins his 26th year leading the Mounders.
Some of those players are seniors Mason Books and Ian Gerrits, juniors Quentin Spehle and Kaden Moyer, along with a big sophomore class including Gavin Dean, Will Thatcher, Dylan Plets, Easton Chisholm and Parker Rhude.
The strengths of the team this season appear to be greater pitching depth, team defense and speed. Their weakness will be a lack of varsity experience at some key positions.
Goals for the team are to compete for a final D-SC Conference championship as they leave the conference after this year to move to the Cloverbelt West Conference, and to make another deep run in the WIAA tournament.
Andrea expects Mondovi, Boyceville and Spring Valley to be the top competition in the conference this season. They are all well coached and have the most talented players in the league.
Andrea carries a 325-156 record as the varsity coach for Elk Mound after serving three years as an assistant. His varsity assistant coach is Jon Chisholm who is in his 14th season and junior varsity coach Dave Lew is in his second year.
2025 Roster
Seniors: Kamron Diermeier, Mason Books, Brayden Borek, Ian Gerrits, Logan Jerome and Nels Tanula
Juniors: Victor Noller, Kaden Moyer, Quintin Spehle, Peyton Vieth and CJ Brunner
Sophomores: Will Thatcher, Dylan Plets, Gavin Dean, Chase Adams, Kaden Books, Easton Chisholm, Marcus Folcyzyk, Rowan Kaminsky, Brody Kohnke, Conor Mock, Blake Niska, Logan Osborne, Parker Rhude, and Dru Schiszik
Freshmen: Brody Ferguson, Adam Jones, Payton Liphardt, Brooks Miller, Nate Miller, Dylan Mueller, Colton Plemon, Isaac Schnell, Bode Severson, Trentin Spehle and Brayden Steig