GILMAN BASEBALL PREVIEW - Pirates thin on numbers, but Nichols likes what he sees so far

GILMAN BASEBALL PREVIEW

Good health and versatility will be musts for the members of the Gilman Pirates baseball team in 2025.

The Pirates begin the new season thin on depth with just 11 players. But secondyear head coach Derek Nichols is excited to go to bat with the 11 he has, eight of whom are back and looking to improve after helping last year’s team go 4-13 overall and 3-7 in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference.

“Our numbers are low, but the guys we’ve got I really feel good about,” Nichols said Tuesday. “For the most part they all really enjoy the game of baseball. They’re all here because they like it. I do feel good about the group we have.”

Gilman was able to get outside for practice a few times last week. This week, the Pirates are back indoors, but they are looking forward to what should be a weekend full of baseball on the turf of the Woodside Sports Complexes in Wisconsin Dells and Mauston.

The Pirates are scheduled to get their first three games of the season with matchups against Prentice and Wausaukee on Friday in the Dells, starting at 11 a.m. and a Saturday contest against Flambeau at 1:30 p.m. in Mauston.

“The boys are looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to it,” Nichols said of the weekend. “Pitching-wise, I’m just looking for them to throw strikes, get ahead of guys and put pitches where they want to put them. Obviously we hope our defense can get some action and do what they need to. Obviously we want to get the bats rolling. Hopefully we can do that.”

Nichols and secondyear assistant Lee Pentimone will lead a team that is quite young. Talyn Podolak is the lone senior and there are just three juniors with Dawson Grunseth, Dawson Robinson and Austin Schultz.

Four sophomores return. They are Connor Nichols, Tate Krizan, Lucas Halida and Beau Pockat. Three freshmen will step right in and get varsity playing time. They are Trevin Duellman, Max Pockat and Makii Austin.

Pitching, of course, will be key to any success Gilman has and Nichols is fairly confident he has two good ones in Grunseth and Robinson. Both have given Gilman a lot of good innings the past two years. The left-handed Grunseth started 10 of Gilman’s games last year and racked up 42 strikeouts in 37.2 innings while compiling a 1-5 record. He had an earned run average of 5.71. Robinson had a 5.92 ERA 12.2 innings. He appeared in nine games with one start and had a 1-2 record. Grunseth was a secondteam All-ECC selection at season’s end. Beau Pockat went 1-0 for Gilman last year and covered 17 innings with a 5.59 ERA. Dalton Wisocky was the key pitcher Gilman lost to graduation. He was 1-3 and covered 18.2 innings.

This year, Connor Nichols could be counted upon to get some outs. Coach Nichols said Max Pockat and Austin from the freshman class are likely to see some time on the mound as well.

“I feel pretty good about our pitching,” Nichols said. “I feel some of those guys have some good experience and this spring it feels like they’re all throwing harder and they’ve gotten a little more junk to go along with it.”

Connor Nichols, who got honorable mention in the conference last spring along with Joey Syryczuk, takes over as Gilman’s top catcher after Syryczuk did not return for his senior season. He was the team’s primary third baseman last year. Podolak and Duellman figure to be the backups.

Around the infield, Krizan steps into the third base starting role. Beau Pockat and Trevin Duellman get the early nods as the team’s shortstops. Podolak starts out at second base, where Duellman and Halida also could get time. Robinson is the starting first baseman, while Austin could fill in there when Robinson is pitching.

Grunseth is a solid centerfielder. Max Pockat, Halida, Duellman and Schultz start out as Gilman’s other outfield options.

“We have a few guys that are going to have to play a few positions,” Derek Nichols said. “We probably have three or four guys that are going to have to play at least three positions. Everybody should see some action and a pretty good amount of it.”

Offensively, Gilman had a couple of big games, scoring 17 and 14 in conference wins over Greenwood. But at times, scoring didn’t always come easy. The Pirates don’t possess a ton of speed to be overly aggressive on the bases, but Nichols is hoping this year’s team will make hard contact and find the gaps.

“I’m hoping we can get a little more production than we have in the past,” he said. “I don’t really know what to expect yet until we start seeing live stuff. Other than Joey, our top hitters are all returning from last year. I feel some of these younger guys can also hit too. I think we will make some improvements.”

Grunseth hit .410 last year overall (16 for 39), Nichols hit .333 (15 for 45) and Krizan hit .273 (nine for 33) to lead the returning players. Grunseth drove in 11 runs.

Last spring, the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference was a six-team conference that was dominated by Columbus Catholic. The Dons went 10-0 in league play and finished 16-4 overall. They lost some big names, including co-ECC Player of the year Emmitt Konieczny, but they bring back four first- or second-team All-ECC players. Nichols expects Loyal to be a formidable challenger. The Greyhounds were 6-4 in league play and could bring back five All-ECC award winners, including first-teamers Cain Toufar and Tryn Scheel.

Neillsville probably took the most graduation hits after going 7-3 in the conference, including co-Player of the Year Bryce Erickson. The Pirates split with Spencer last season and swept Greenwood. Spencer is another team that was young and should bring a lot of its talent back.

The wild card is the new Owen-Withee/ Thorp co-op. Owen-Withee did not field a varsity team last year due to low numbers.

“There’s definitely an opportunity for us to move up a little bit,” Nichols said. “I feel like if we do show up, I really think that we can give anybody a good game and beat some of them. I think we might surprise a few people. I feel like we could.”

In the post-season, Gilman is part of a Division 4 sectional half-bracket that includes teams like Rib Lake, McDonell Central, Spring Valley, Spencer, Loyal, Edgar, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, Clear Lake and Athens. Athens is the sectional tournament host on June 10.