Reloading co-op aiming for fifth straight title
By Nathaniel Underw’ood
Since 2021, the road to a Marawood-North conference championship has run through Red Arrow Park. The Abbotsford/ Colby baseball team has had at least a share of the Marawood-North conference title the past four seasons and as the calendar shifts into April, the co-op squad will be in the hunt for their fifth straight title.
While the previous teams were led by a fairly consistent roster from year to year, the 2025 Abby/Colby team will have plenty of new players finding their names on the lineup card. The 2024 squad that finished 20-8 overall and 9-1 in conference play featured six seniors, all of which earned all-conference honors at the end of the season, and many of whom had been key pieces throughout Abby/Colby’s recent run of success.
Finding a way to replace the production from last year’s seniors will be the co-op’s primary task as they press for another conference title. Luckily for the defending champs, a few players from last year’s squad will return, as well as a host of reinforcements in the form of upperclassmen athletes who did not play last season and a large class of underclassmen coming in to fill in the gaps.
Reigning co-Player of the Year award winner Payton Schreiber will be back this season and is lined up to be the co-op’s top option on the mound as well as one of their most productive bats in the lineup. Last year, Schreiber led the team with a .386 batting average and an OPS of 1.189 while launching a team-high five home runs and collecting 38 RBIs in 28 games. He also had an 8-5 record on the mound, posting a 2.72 ERA and striking out the most batters on the squad, finishing the year with 84 punchouts.
“Schreiber’s going to be returning, obviously conference player of the year, and we’re hoping to get a lot out of him in terms of leadership,” head coach Brett Nelson said. “We’re going to get the numbers, we want to see the numbers, but that’s not really what I’m worried about. With us trying to rebuild a program, reload a program, that’s what we are looking for out of him.”
Sophomore Arturo Lopez will also be back for the co-op after splitting time at third base last year for the co-op. While not an eveiyday starter last year, Nelson expects Lopez’s role to increase significantly this season, especially in the pitching rotation. While injury kept him from pitching, he looks ready to return to the mound this season to help shore up the starting staff. Fellow sophomores Jaxston Malzahn, Owen Hanson and Hector Lopez all return with limited varsity experience as freshmen and are poised for an increased role this season. Senior Grayson Totzke, junior Irvin Aguilera, and sophomore Ayden Michlig will also be in the mix for spots in the starting lineup after not playing with the team last year.
One thing that the co-op won’t have to worry about this season is a lack of numbers. After a couple of seasons with the team bordering around 15 members, this year’s squad will boast nearly 30, a sharp increase that comes with its own benefits and difficulties. While the logistics of practices can be tougher, especially in the early weeks where the team is largely relegated indoors, there are good things as well.
“Luckily, I think it was a good thing that I coached at the college level, because I saw how a big staff is also coached,” Nelson said. “So we’re putting guys in position groups, instead of everyone [doing the same thing]. We’ve got guys that are working on infield drills and they are only going to work on infield. We have outfielders and they are going to work on outfield drills. A couple floating around, but being able to give positional instruction has been very effective for us.”
It will also allow the team more flexibility and the ability to play more JV games, which will be key in maintaining and growing the culture of the team.
Constructing a starting lineup almost from scratch is something that the Abby/ Colby staff has not had to do over the past couple years, but it’s a challenge that Nelson is excited to take on.
“In my three or four years, we’ve had a pretty similar, consistent lineup,” Nelson noted. “We haven’t had to do too much of that ‘oh yeah, we have to make sure that we know what a baseball game looks like.’ But the nice thing with our position right now is that we have a lot of athletes, a lot of good, skilled players. Plugging in and playing with them is going to be kind of the fun part for us as a coaching staff, to see where they're going to fit in, but I don’t foresee us as being in a complete rebuild. A lot of new pieces that aren’t new to baseball, but just new to our lineup.”
With so much turnover on the roster, many question if the goal posts have shifted when it comes to the conference, but the co-op seems confident that it can be right in the thick of things once again.
“I think we can compete for a championship,” he later added. “That’s been the goal for these guys for the last eight
See BASEBALL PREVIEW/ Page 20
2025 ABBOTSFORD/COLBY BASEBALL TEAM - This year’s 2025 Abbotsford/Colby co-op baseball team Is, in the back row, left to right, Antonio Cruz-Ochoa, Grayson Totzke, Payton Schreiber, Ander Guerrero, Rafael Mundt, Owen Hanson, Adrian Capetillo and Arturo Lopez. In the middle row, left to right, are Carson Folz, Irvin Aguilera, Ayden Michlig, Luis Lujan, Jose Guerrero, Jaxston Malzahn, Cutter Hamus, Jax Hannula and Hector Lopez. In the front row, left to right, are Fernando Perez, Javier Dorado-Rivera, Pedro Cruz, Manny Lopez, Rodrigo Perez and Kayden Kunze. Missing from the picture are Ashton Ramirez and Josue Tzitzun. The co-op’s head coach is Brett Nelson. staffphoto/nathaniel underwood Baseball preview
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months when we set the goal in June of ‘why can’t we win another conference championship?’ We’ve got a next man up mentality and they’ve taken to that mentality really well.”
Last year’s co-champion, Rib Lake, will be facing similar challenges after graduating a number of solid seniors last season. Meanwhile, a young Athens Bluejays squad looks to take the next step forward after finishing 5-5 in the conference last year. With so many unknowns heading into the 2025 season, the Marawood-North crown feels open for anyone to secure it.
The co-op had their first test of the season on Tuesday afternoon when they hosted the Northland Pines Eagles.
There were some of the expected growing pains for the young team in their opening game. Walks and lacking a spark on offense turned the game into a one-sided affair as the Eagles dealt Abby/Colby a 15-0 defeat.
With Schreiber on the mound, the co-op was able to keep things somewhat close in the early innings, but the visitors were able to get runs across the board in every frame of the five-inning contest. Meanwhile, Northland Pines starting pitcher Aiden Minx was able to rend the Abby/Colby lineup silent the entire contest, serving up five innings of one-hit ball.
The Eagles started off the scoring by getting a run on the board in the top of the first. The co-op had an opportunity to limit the damage in the second, but a tough play on a dribbler in no-man’s land in front of the mound led to a pair of runs scoring after the throw to first got away into the outfield, leading to an eventual three-run inning for the visitors.
The co-op looked poised to answer in the second as Fernando Perez drew a walk and then promptly stole second. Aguilera then followed with a walk of his own, giving Abby/Colby runners on first and second with one out. However, both were eventually caught on the base paths, Perez getting out in an attempt to advance on a passed ball while Aguilera was tagged trying to get to third on a shallow ball into left-center field hit by Carson Folz.
Northland Pines managed to get two more runs across the board in both the third and fourth innings before blowing the game open with a seven-run fifth inning.
Schreiber was saddled with the loss, surrendering seven runs on four hits and four walks in three innings of work. Only four of the runs were earned. He also struck out four batters. Aguilera gave up seven runs on two hits and six walks while striking out two in his one inning on the mound and Arturo Lopez gave up one run on two hits after pitching an inning.
Hector Lopez had the only hit for the co-op in the contest. Fernando Lopez had two walks and a stolen base.
WHEELING AND DEALING - Payton Schreiber was on the mound for co-op on Monday, striking out four batters in their opening game versus Northland Pines, staffphoto/nathaniel underwood
BARRELING UP THE BALL - Second baseman Carson Folz finds some green out in left field in the second inning of the co-op’s home opener. staff photo/nathaniel underwood
