Cardinal squad built on speed, defense

Defense and speed are key ingredients to success for Newton High’s Cardinal baseball team in 2017.

Under head coach Dustin Brisel the past two seasons, the Cardinals have focused on making the routine plays in the field. The speed will help with the defense, but it will also show on the base paths for the Cardinals.

“If you make the routine plays on defense, you stay in games. Our team thrives on playing defense,” Brisel said. “We also know we have to hit the ball and score runs to win games. We have a young, but I feel deep pitching staff this season.”

The Cardinals open the 2017 season Tuesday at Marshalltown then have their home opener Wednesday against Boone at Woodland Park.

“We are very excited to get the 2017 baseball season going. We are playing a very strong schedule again this year with a mixture of some talented 4A and 3A teams. We have the Cardinal Invitational Tournament on June 17,” Brisel said.

Pitching is a hot topic among baseball coaches and players this season in Iowa high school play. The Iowa High School Athletic Association has a new pitch count policy for the 2017 season.

High school baseball pitchers are limited to 110 pitches per day. There are pitch counts to determine how many days rest a pitcher is to take from pitching again. Reaching 110 pitches calls for four days rest.

“The new pitch count policy is a smart idea to help keep players healthy. I think it plays into our hands more than not,” Brisel said. “You’re not going to see many pitchers go six or seven innings in a game. Coaches will be working in two or three pitchers in a game with 40 to 50 pitches each.”

Newton has five pitchers returning to the mound this season, but not many have more than five games under their belts. Seniors Brennen Dodd, Trey Vanderlaan and Tyler Stanton lead the pitching staff. Dodd went 1-4 with 24 2/3 innings pitched. Vanderlaan and Stanton each were 1-2 with 21 2/3 innings and 19 2/3 innings, respectively, pitched.

Also back are senior Keith Steinbach and junior Trevor Ergenbright with varsity experience. Look for senior Josh Gulling, juniors Logan Wolfe and Darren Revell and sophomore Ryan Barr to figure into the pitching plan for the Cardinals.

“We have the arms. We will rotate our pitchers into games and get everybody involved,” Brisel said. “With the new pitch count rule it is going to be vital to use guys properly throughout the season and get arms out of the game if they are struggling.”

Newton is set on having a better showing than in 2016 when it went 9-21, losing to Pella in the Class 3A district semifinals. The Cardinals are back in Class 4A for 2017. They went 5-13 for sixth in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

Joining Vanderlaan, Dodd, Stanton, Steinbach and Ergenbright as returning lettermen for the Cardinals is senior catcher Reagan Maple. All the Cardinal players are position players with some taking on pitching duties.

Dodd was one of eight unanimous selections to the 2016 All-Little Hawkeye Conference baseball first team as an outfielder. Dodd was Newton’s starting center fielder with a fielding average of .879 with eight errors.

Newton had the worst team batting average, .196, in the conference. Dodd led the Cardinals with a .333 batting average, which was 12th in the LHC. He had 25 hits, one double, and had a slugging percentage of .347.

Dodd scored 12 runs as Newton’s leadoff hitter, and had five RBIs. His on-base percentage was .412. He was 6-of-7 on stolen base attempts.

Vanderlaan received honorable mention honors as the starting first baseman and pitching for Newton. He had the fifth-best fielding average, .989, in the Little Hawkeye Conference. He committed two errors. He hit .192 with 15 base hits. He scored six runs and drove in eight runs.

Ergenbright, an outfielder, had 16 hits and three RBIs hitting .198. Stanton, who plays second base, had 15 base hits. Steinbach, an outfielder, saw action as a pinch runner and scored 12 runs a year ago. Maple slides into the starting catcher’s role this season.

Other juniors expected to step into roles on the varsity are Jace Lukefahr, Blayden Rhone, Wolfe, Cole Cazett, Jaron Roush, Revell and Isaac Bebout. Barr and Ty Arguello are sophomores ready to make an impact at the varsity level.

“We have great leaders and communication on the field defensively with returning players and a lot of talented young guys joining the squad this year,” Brisel said. “We have a lot of speed in the outfield this year with Dodd, Ergenbright, Steinbach, Roush, and Wolfe returning. There will be a lot of balls hit in the gaps that our guys will be able to run down for outs rather than drop for hits.”

Hitting was a problem a year ago. Brisel and his coaching staff of Ryan Comer, Tyler Stewart, Brad Kahler and Brady Calow are working to correct the situation.

“We’re really putting an emphasis on plate approach for our guys. The way most high school pitchers throw the first pitch is going to be a fastball. In practices we’re hitting the ball pretty well right now,” Brisel said. “We have to hit the ball to score runs. We’re working on the mental aspect of hitting and then let them play ball.”

Striving for the top spot of the Little Hawkeye Conference and working for a trip to the state tournament are ultimate goals each year for the Cardinals.

“With Indianola joining us in the conference the competition continues to be strong. We believe as a team if we play solid defense and put a bunch of runs on the scoreboard we have a very good shot at taking home the conference championship this year. We believe every team in our conference and on our schedule is beatable. We just have to show up and play Cardinal baseball,” Brisel said.

Other members of the team this season are juniors Kamden Kuennen and Luke Winchell and sophomores Aaron Bartels, Landon Criswell, Blake Cockerton, Taylor Greiner, Ben Leal, Mason Lee, Adam Maharry, Luke Maharry, Matt Moran, Jacob Murphy and Tyler Shives.

Freshmen out are Dalton Altemeir, Gatlin Chambers, Taylor Danley, Taylor Fox, Logan Henning Julian Hotchins, Clay Meyer, Jake Schutte, Blake Sevenbergen, Lucas Scheff and Destin Schroder.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com