Waterville-Mansfield baseball opens season with seven seniors

WATERVILLE – The Waterville-Mansfield varsity baseball team will take to the diamond absent any Mansfield players this year, according to coach Cody Brunner.
Brunner, in his first year as head coach for the Shockers, said the team’s strength this season will come from its senior leadership.
“We have seven seniors led by Jacob Stibal,” said Brunner, “and a pretty strong group of juniors and sophomores.”
“Stibal will lead us at the catcher’s position and with the bat,” Brunner said.
Brunner expects his most experienced pitchers from the last few seasons, Will Osborne, Ethan Peterson and Angel Lucero, to give the Shockers some stability on the mound. Back-ups include Colin Poppie, Jordan Davis and Tristen Marden.
As usual the Shockers have indoors since opening day of practice last month. Last week the players were taking turns in the batters’ cage and working on diving infield catches in the gym. Brunner would throw the ball to the left or right and players would make diving attempts to catch the ball while landing on mats padding the gym floor to break their fall.
Weather already has caused a reschedule of the Shockers’ first game. A doubleheader scheduled at Waterville will be moved to a dry field at Soap Lake. Weather permitting, Waterville is scheduled to host Manson at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 22.