A tradition of winning
‘Jays focused on taking the North title
By Casey Krautkramer
Athens High School baseball head coach Todd Diethelm was an assistant underneath Bill Coker when the Bluejays won back-to-back WIAA Division 4 state championships in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Athens posted an impressive 60-14 record during its three consecutive state tournament appearances in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Following the 2019 season, Coker retired and Diethelm was hired as the new Athens baseball head coach. Diethelm is a 1991 graduate of Athens High School who played baseball for retired Bluejays head coach Dan Bishop, who led Athens to its first baseball state championship in 1982.
Diethelm needed to wait for his opportunity to guide the Bluejays onto the baseball field, however, after the 2020 baseball season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Finally, last season Diethelm got his long-awaited opportunity to coach the Bluejays in the dugout. He might not have led the Bluejays to a state championship win right away, but he did continue the program’s recent success of winning Marawood North Conference championships.
Last season, Athens shared the Marawood North title with Abbotsford/ Colby and Rib Lake after each of the three squads finished the conference season with identical 8-2 records. It was technically Athens’ fourth consecutive conference title, not including the cancelled 2020 baseball season. Athens shared the 2017 Marawood North Conference championship with Phillips and then won outright conference titles in 2018 and 2019.
“The Marawood North title is our No. 1 goal every year,” Diethelm said. “To accomplish this goal, we will have to gel very quickly as a team and focus on the little things that will help us win games. We have a few holes to fill that we lost with last year’s seniors moving on, but with hard work and the willingness to learn the game, I believe we can compete for the North title once again. Pitching and defense will be where we need to do well to reach our goal.”
Diethelm guided the Athens baseball team to a 14-6 record last season. Athens lost to Rib Lake, 5-2, in a WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal.
Athens’ top returning baseball players are senior first and third baseman Cody Lepak, senior pitchers and middle infielders Cooper Diedrich and Brooks Kraus, senior centerfielder Damien Haines, junior catcher and pitcher Kyler Ellenbecker and junior pitcher and middle infielder Connor Sheahan.
Diedrich is the only player who was a member of the last Athens squad, in 2019, to compete in the state tournament. He was a freshman starting second baseman on the 2019 squad. Died- rich batted one for three with a RBI in Athens’ 4-3 loss to undefeated Webster in the WIAA Division 4 state tournament semifinal.
Diethelm is expecting Diedrich and the team’s other seniors to lead the Bluejays to another Marawood North Conference championship and a deep playoff run.
“Cooper is an outstanding leader and athlete as many people well know; he has the experience of playing in the state tournament his freshman year and can help others understand what it takes to play at that level,” Diethelm said. “With that being said, I expect Cooper, Kody, Brooks and Damien as this year’s seniors to all be leaders of our team. You can never have enough team leaders and I would hope because this is their last high school season that they want to take on the leadership roles.”
The following newcomers are expected to contribute to Athens’ success on the baseball field this season: junior outfielder Nathan Wolf, sophomore first and third baseman Andy Schaer, sophomore outfielder Ty Johnson, sophomore first baseman Adam Belter, sophomore utility player Hunter Haehlke, sophomore catcher Logan Ebben, freshman pitcher and utility player Nick Pittman, freshman catcher and infielder Kaden Auner and freshman first baseman Brayden Frahmann.
Diethelm’s high school baseball assistant coaches are Dale Westfall, Jeramie Penney and Aaron Doll this season. Westfall was a sophomore on Athens’ 1982 state championship baseball team, and he was awarded the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association assistant baseball coach of the year in 2019.
Troy Diethelm and Paul Zarnke are the Athens Middle School baseball coaches this season. Athens has not yet played a baseball game this season due to the cold and wet spring weather.
