25 years and counting

Warren has 500th coaching win on Monday

By Casey Krautkramer

Steve Warren’s first season was 1999 as Marathon High School’s spring head baseball coach. That summer, Marathon fielded its inaugural American Legion baseball team.

“The credit for establishing the current Legion baseball program really goes to the members of Marathon Legion Post 469,” Warren said. “Claude Buchberger was the post commander at that time. He, along with Alex Szymanski, Allan Seubert, Duane Handrick, Leroy Knauf, Don Southworth and many others, put their faith in the vision that John Westfall and I had for a summer baseball program. The current members of Post 469 are continuing that vision to this day. We also had support from Dennis Erstad, the principal at Marathon High School at that time.”

“John Westfall and I believed that creating the Legion baseball program was integral to achieving the goals we had for the high school baseball program. There was no guarantee that our plan would work and there was a lot of opposition to the program too. Looking back now, I am thankful that the Legion baseball program has benefited many young men over the years, including my sons.”

Warren achieved his 500th Legion head coaching win after Post 469’s 4-3 victory against Edgar on Monday in the nightcap of a home doubleheader. Drew Woelfel was the winning pitcher for Marathon. The team’s leading hitters were Cooper Hoeksema with a double, Tyler Underwood batting two for two and Reed McCain with a double and two RBIs. With the victory, Post 469 improves its record to 12-2 this summer.

Marathon also beat Edgar, 13-2, in the first game on Monday. Grant Warren was the winning pitcher. Post 469’s leading hitters were Daniel LaQua with two RBIs, Tyler Underwood batting two for three with a pair of RBIs, Grant Warren batting two for four with a pair of RBIs, Hoeksema batting two for three with two RBIs and Woelfel going two for two at the plate.

Post 469 also swept a home doubleheader against Loyal on Thursday. Tyler Underwood struck out seven hitters in Marathon’s 10-0 win in the first game. Post 469’s leading hitters were Hoeksema batting two for four with a pair of RBIs and Blake Underwood going two for three with four RBIs.

Marathon beat Loyal, 6-2, in the nightcap. McCain led the team with a pair of RBIs and Will Tourtillott batted two for two at the plate.

Post 469 swept a home doubleheader against Medford Junior Legion on June 19. Marathon won the first game, 9-3. Grant Warren was the winning pitcher and McCain doubled. Marathon won the second game, 6-3. Cody Radtke struck out six hitters to earn the pitching win. Cale Quaintance led Post 469 by hitting two for three at the plate.

Marathon won a road doubleheader on June 16 against Tomahawk. Post 469 won the first game, 9-1. Tyler Underwood was the winning pitcher. Marathon’s leading hitters were Tyler Underwood batting two for four with a triple, True Thurs batting two for five with a double and two RBIs, Hoeksema batting two for four with a double and McCain batting two for four at the plate.

Post 469 also won the second game, 6-5, against Tomahawk. McCain was the winning pitcher and he led Marathon with two RBIs at the plate.

Marathon won a road doubleheader against Abbotsford/Colby on June 15. Blake Underwood was the winning pitcher. Post 469’s leading hitters were Daniel LaQua batting two for four, Tyler Underwood batting three for five with a pair of RBIs, True Thurs batting three for four, Hoeksema batting three for four with two RBIs, Mc-Cain batting three for five with a pair of RBIs, Derek Vesely batting two for three and Radtke batting four for five with four RBIs.

Post 469 also beat Abbotsford/Colby in the second game, 12-1. Thurs was the winning pitcher. Marathon’s leading hitters were Radtke with two RBIs, Woelfel batting two for five with three RBIs, Tourtillott and Jorey Kunkel batting two for three, and Evan De-Broux collecting two RBIs.