The Belmond-Klemme baseball team featured an underclassman-heavy roster learning the ropes of playing at the varsity level from six upperclassman, and Broncos concluded their season at 3-19. The wins came against Colo-Nesco, Nashua-Plainfield, and West Hancock. Head Coach Cory Yoder on what stood out from the season.
“It was an interesting season to say the least. We were in a lot of ball games this year. I think we were ahead or tied in almost all but four games this year. We were that close. We just had one bad inning all season long,” says Yoder. “I talked to the kids after season, you just got to get through those little bugaboos and they’re going to be okay. We’re returning a great group of kids coming back next year. Belmond-Klemme baseball is on the way up.”
The Broncos had four players bat over a .200 avg. led by Parker Dougherty at .284, Braden Dougherty at .241, Coewhan Kelley at .236 and Greyson Arthur hit .235. Kelley led the team with 15 RBIs. Davey Pressley paced the pitching staff with a 4.12 ERA and 41 strikeouts in nine games. Yoder on fundamentals that need reps this offseason.
“The kids are going to have to take advantage. They’re going to have a great senior coming up in Zach Hansen. He’s a leader, he’ll take control of it. We a nice batting cage out by our airport area, which we had off-season workouts there this year. The main thing we got to work on is hitting and pitching, that’s the main key to the success in the future for Belmond-Klemme baseball. We had so many opportunities this year with bases loaded. I don’t know how many times we had no outs and maybe got one run at the most. That’s going to be the key to next year. The guys are going to have to turn the bats around. Their batting average is going to have to come way up. We gotta get the pitching staff to a point where they can go four, five or six innings.”
Three seniors have graduated, including Jose Alfaro, Ryder Gansen and Will Hays. The Broncos are projected to return 17 players next season.
