Trio of seniors guide Raiders

Hahn, Warren and Sweno are strong leaders

The Marathon varsity baseball team lost to Marawood Conference South foe and eventual WIAA Division 3 state champion Stratford in a home regional final in the 2019 season. The Red Raiders have since put this tough loss behind them and they are looking forward to playing games again this spring, especially after COVID-19 canceled last season.

Steve Warren, who begins his 23rd year as Marathon’s head coach, put into perspective the team’s regional championship defeat to Stratford in 2019.

“We always try to learn from our losses and keep improving,” he said. “It was certainly disappointing to miss out on the entire 2020 spring season. This year we can all appreciate the opportunity to play spring high school baseball. Our players have shown a a lot of interest and energy during our open gyms, so we are hoping for good weather and the possibility of playing a lot of games. We are thankful for the 15 WIAA contact days, because we have quite a young team this year and there is much to learn.”

Steve Warren is thankful Marathon baseball players were able to play 24 games last summer, even though its normal American Legion season was canceled because of COVID-19. He said the players were still given an opportunity last summer to gain much needed experience on the baseball field.

“When the state American Legion baseball program was canceled last summer, Marathon American Legion Post 469 was not allowed to sponsor us in the way they usually do,” he said. “Marathon Cheese Corporation was able to step in and sponsor us with funds for team jerseys and umpires, and we are very grateful for that. In this summer of 2021, we are back to normal with Legion Post 469 supporting our official American Legion baseball team.”

Steve Warren is looking to his team’s three senior baseball players Mike Hahn, Jake Sweno and his oldest son, Brock Warren, to provide strong leadership for the younger players this season. He does, however, expect the younger players to keep improving this season.

“We expect everyone in the starting lineup, regardless of age, to contribute to the team effort,” Steve Warren said. “Our upperclassmen have a good deal of experience, but we will need significant contributions from our freshmen and sophomores too.”

Marathon’s baseball team is fortunate to have a few experienced pitchers returning this season.

“Jaden Koeller and Brock Warren have the most varsity innings of pitching experience,” Steve Warren said. “This season, however, we’ll also need significant innings pitched from Kyle Hollenbeck, Daniel LaQua, Nathan Hanke, Hector Pintor, Peter Chesek, Grant Warren and Tyler Underwood. We have a lot of guys who can play multiple positions on defense, which is one of our team’s strengths. Those positions will vary based upon who is pitching on that day.”

Steve Warren’s assistant baseball coaches include Tyler Schilling, Doug Kaldunski, Ron Kunkel, Kole Kaldunski and Alex Blume. Steve Warren will forever honor the memory of late Marathon baseball assistant coach John Westfall.

“Coach Westfall left a legacy of dedication for all of us to follow,” Steve Warren said. “He was part of three state championships, one state runners- up, 15 conference championships and 10 regional championships. We will take everything we learned from him and continue to ‘battle one pitch at a time.’”