One thing you need in sports is leadership and this is no different in baseball. The leaders of your team are typically seniors as they are supposed to set an example of what to do. For the Heyworth Hornets baseball team despite struggles early in the season, senior leadership has been much improved which is a reason why the Hornets have won 4 of 5. Today, we will be highlighting two seniors: Brady Wicklander and Tyler Bartels. Both have played crucial roles in their high school career.
In Wicklander’s junior season he was the ace on a team that went to the sectional championship and this year he is continuing his success as in limited opportunities he is batting .318 at the plate and on the mound he has a 4.5 ERA but in those games he has faced tough competition including Clinton, Delavan, and the top-ranked team in 1A Father McGivney. We interviewed Wicklander earlier this week in sort of a recap fashion despite there still being about 40% of the season left. He has felt he has improved in throwing harder and controlling his pitches, which was especially shown in his jump from sophomore to junior year where he pitched in 2 of the biggest games all year last year in the regional semi-final and the sectional semi-final. His favorite memory from his high school career was beating Lexington in the regional championship, but this year he has bigger goals as his main goal for this year is to win a state championship. While playing high school baseball, he learned a life lesson that life will bring you adversity but being able to respond to that adversity is what matters the most. His favorite thing that Coach Turner has said is when he went on his speech about the greenie weenie (he didn’t know what he was talking about). Brady’s advice for the upcoming freshmen is that they need to support their teammates and stick together as a team and leave it all out for one another. Wicklander has been a huge part of the Hornet’s success the past few years and hopes to bring even more success come postseason time.
Tyler Bartels is the other senior we interviewed this week. For the majority of his 4 year career, he has been in the starting lineup. He has been a consistent part of the Hornets' success recently as he has been versatile and is one of those kids to where you can put him anywhere on the field and he will still find a way to have success. This year he has mostly been playing 2nd base or corner outfield depending on whose pitching. Bartels is another player who has taken steps in their high school career. He says that his confidence has improved since he entered the program. In 20 games he is currently batting .300 with a .926 fielding percentage as he has played well all around this year. I think anyone who has seen Tyler in the box from freshman year to now can see the improvements he has made. His favorite memory, much like Brady’s, was also winning the first-ever regional championship in Heyworth baseball history. He isn’t satisfied with just a regional championship as this year he wants to take the next step and win a sectional championship. A life lesson he has learned during baseball has been you have to work hard to seek change. His favorite Coach Turner saying is when he says “This is a program game”. He usually says this in huge conference games or games where there is a chance to put Heyworth on the map in 1A. His advice to the upcoming freshmen is to work hard and to capitalize on every opportunity to present themselves. Tyler has also been a huge part of the Hornet’s success, but they don’t want the success to end here. The postseason is coming right around the corner and the Hornets hope to continue their success and hopefully go further than last year.
These seniors in the end have had a great Heyworth career but it’s not over yet. They still have a lot of season left including the postseason, which is where they strived last year. After another win against GCMS, the Hornets are looking as good as they have all year. Today they will play Dee Mack in hopes of being 5-3 in the conference and hoping to be one of the top teams in the conference when it is all said and done.
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