View from the cheap seats

A weekly perspective on sports

I believe Marathon head baseball coach Steve Warren when he says a team also needs a bit of luck to qualify for the state tournament, and possibly even win a state title. This team’s luck ran out against a great Kenosha St. Joseph squad in the WIAA Division 3 state semifinals on June 29.

He told me his team got lucky against Stratford in the regional championship, because every ball Marathon hit seemed to find a hole in the Tigers’ defense. Everything went Marathon’s way during this game, which Warren said doesn’t always happen in baseball.

Coach Warren also told me one of the many reasons he became a head baseball coach is so that he wouldn’t need to be at hitter at the plate anymore, because it’s so difficult to maintain focus and not get down on yourself about what happened on the last pitch.

That’s why he constantly reminds his Marathon baseball players to “Focus on the Next Pitch,” which has helped the Red Raiders baseball program qualify for the state tournament five times under his tutelage. The Red Raiders won state baseball championsips in 2008 and 2010 under coach Warren, and they finished as state runners-up in 2009.

Coach Warren told me Milwaukee Brewers infielder Keston Hiura didn’t forget how to hit the ball, but rather he was letting his struggles at the plate early this season affect his mind. He said the same thing happened to Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, who won MLB’s Most Valuable Player award in 2018 yet he struggled to hit the ball last season. Yelich has regained his confidence at the plate this season, as has Hiura lately. This is the reason Coach Warren constantly reminds his Marathon players to “Focus on the Next Pitch.”