The Aplington-Parkersburg baseball team had its season end in last week’s district semifinal, but put itself in position to succeed in the postseason despite missing some players. Junior utility players Gavin Allan and Benny Waller were both out of the lineup due to sustaining injuries in late June, but the team still won a playoff game over Jesup with some underclassmen filling varsity roles.
“You always want to be playing further in July, but proud of what our guys accomplished,” Head Coach Brett Kleespies says. “And there was a couple games in the beginning of the season that we had some guys missing, and some of the young guys had to step up. And so yeah, very proud of the guys. Couldn’t be prouder of the guys for guys stepping up and guys putting in situations that maybe five of the nine hadn’t been in that situation, and being able to get some games under their belt going into next year.”
The team graduated just one senior, but a crucial one, Preston Janssen. He led the team in hitting at .429 on the season, and was the top starting pitcher with nine starts and a 2.88 ERA. He holds the distinction of being the only winning pitcher in a substate game in program history.
“After the last game, I had all the guys shake Preston Janssen’s hand. He’s been our lone senior, and just told them in our breakdown, he’s got the win in the only state berth that Aplington-Parkersburg has right now. So he’s always going to have that, and what he’s done for our program has been huge.”
The team went 15-12 and 6-5 in the NICL-Central.
