Brian Sprout wanted to build a program that is a consistent winner. He is on the verge of accomplishing it at East Ridge.
"Every year there is a lot of talent in our community," Sprout said.
This season the talent is on his team. He has four Division I recruits at the top of his pitching rotation in senior righthander Trevor Lee (Wichita State), junior lefthander Max Arlich (Texas A&M), junior righthander Jake Reigert (Mississippi) and sophomore righthander Luke Ryerse. Lee, Reigert and Ryerse throw low-90s fastballs.
"We have five or six high-level varsity and college baseball arms," Sprout said. "We have as much arm talent as I have seen or know what to do with."
He will need it in the tough Suburban East Conference. Four teams from the conference — East Ridge, Cretin-Derham Hall, Mounds View and Stillwater — are in the top six in the state baseball preseason rankings.
"I think our conference is as good this year as it has been," Sprout said. "Every game is a big challenge competitively. You will learn quickly where your team is at. Our goal is to be playing our best baseball at the end of the year."
New coach seeks a flashback
Buzz Hannahan, in his first season guiding Cretin-Derham Hall after serving as an assistant coach for seven years, is a 1994 graduate of Cretin-Derham Hall. He was a member of the Raiders' 1992 state championship team back when there were only two classes.
This season offers reason to anticipate the Raiders' return to the prominence Hannahan experienced. Cretin-Derham Hall has three Division I players in senior Jack Taxdahl (Minnesota) and juniors P.J Jones (Maryland) and Jake Quinn (Minnesota).
The Raiders won their most recent state title in 2007, also the last year they reached the state tournament. They won 11 state championships between 1981 and 2007.
Looking to go back-to-back
Benilde-St. Margaret's has averaged 18 wins a season under Andy Judkins, who has led the program for six years and five seasons; the pandemic wiped out 2020. Now Judkins' team is looking to become the first back-to-back champion in Class 3A since the four-class system went into effect in 2016.
Judkins has a good starting point: his 1-2 hitters in Caleb Koskie, a junior outfielder and lefthanded pitcher committed to Indiana, and No. 2 hitter Easton Breyfogle, a senior outfielder headed to Arizona.
"Both of them play extremely hard, and it rubs off on the other guys," Judkins said. "We are going to lean on their experience. We're going to be really young, but our younger players show promise. It's going to a patient process."
Wright County looks tough
The Wright County Conference is usually one of the deepest in the state, and 2023 will be no different. Only five schools in the 14-team conference, which includes teams from Class 3A and 2A, had a losing record a year ago.
One team to keep a close eye on is Watertown-Mayer, a Class 2A state tournament entrant last season.
"We return eight starters, all two-year starters, from a team that finished 20-7 and made a trip to the state tournament, only to lose twice at state," Royals coach Ryan Trucke said. "We will be strong defensively, throw strikes and be extremely hard to pitch to. If we stay healthy, we will have a very strong team in all phases of the game with a number of younger players champing at the bit to compete for playing time."
Venue change
Target Field has been home of the state championship games since the stadium opened in 2010. That will come to an end this season as the Twins will be in the midst of a four-game series with the Detroit Tigers then. The baseball championship games will be held at CHS Field, home of the St. Paul Saints, on June 16.
Twenty metro players to watch
Max Arlich, East Ridge, junior (P/1B/OF) College: Texas A&M
Alex Altmann, Rockford, senior (OF/P) College: Minnesota
Easton Breyfogle, Benilde-St. Margaret's, senior (OF) College: Arizona
Will Briggs, Holy Angels, senior (C) College: Purdue
J.D. Dobis, St. Thomas Academy, junior (P/OF) College: Northwestern
Tyler Guerin, Mounds View, junior (P/1B) College: Iowa
Caleb Koskie, Benilde-St. Margaret's, junior (OF/P) College: Indiana
Riley Leatherman, Wayzata, junior (P) College: North Carolina
Trevor Lee, East Ridge, senior (P/OF) College: Wichita State
Mason McCurdy, Stillwater, senior (C) College: Creighton
Michael Miller, St. Thomas Academy, senior (P/1B) College: Duke
Jack Morris, Shakopee, junior (P/OF) College: Clemson
Isaac Morton, Spring Lake Park, senior (P/OF) College: Texas A&M
Josh Och, Chanhassen, senior (P/SS) College: Southern Mississippi
Jake Quinn, Cretin-Derham Hall, junior (OF) College: Minnesota
AJ Rasmussen, Delano, senior (P/2B) College: Washington State
Jake Reigert, East Ridge, junior (P) College: Mississippi
Drew Rogers, Mounds View, junior (C/3B) College: Georgia Tech
Jack Taxdahl, Cretin-Derham Hall, senior (C) College: Minnesota
Will Whelan, Centennial, senior (P/1B) College: Minnesota
Teams to watch
Class 4A/3A
1. East Ridge; 2. Cretin-Derham Hall; 3. Andover; 4. Mounds View; 5. Rosemount; 6. Stillwater; 7. Maple Grove; 8. Chanhassen; 9. Wayzata; 10. Mahtomedi (3A).
Class 2A/1A
1. Watertown-Mayer; 2. New Life Academy; 3. St. Agnes; 4. Glencoe-Silver Lake; 5. Rockford.
