“The best of the best fail seven out of ten times,” A phrase often preached by coaches and players at the highest levels of baseball. But can that apply to an entire season?
The goal was clear this year for Wilsonville: Bring home a state title. It’s something never done in Wilsonville baseball history. The 2024 season was touted as the year to finish the job. With twelve seniors, five of which headed into their collegiate careers, this was the year to get over the hump.
20-9 was the final record, a great record on paper, but taking a closer look at league play, the Wildcats stood at only 12-5, four games behind where they were last year. So was the season a failure?
Heading into the playoffs, all momentum was headed in Wilsonville’s direction. A sense of revision hung in the air after nine straight wins, all against league opponents. Struggles early had compounded culminating in a rough start to the season, but recent success resuscitated new life into the roster.
“The key to a successful program is having more than one arm to carry the load,” junior Connor Johnston beings, “thats what separates the good teams from the bottom-feeders.” Johnston was a new addition to Wilsonville’s outfield who made an impact quickly. Transferring from a prestigious program at West Linn, Johnston was able to shine in left field being one of the two starting outfielders that maintained a perfect fielding percentage through every game.
Flipping the script to the offensive side, Johnston finished the year batting .282 with 78 at-bats. The key to look at is Johnston’s success at the plate was his ability to put balls in the gaps, especially on a field like Wilsonville. Johnston was able to use the largest field Oregon to his advantage finishing the year with 2 doubles and 2 triples to the tune of a .359 slugging percentage.
A lackluster offense required some retuning midseason as coach Card elected to call up JV sophomore, Brody Cushing. Standing over six feet with a solid frame Cushing, similar to Johnston can drive the ball in the gaps on both sides of the field. With still years left for Cushing, he stays positive that Wilsonville will stay in contention for a state title as long as he’s here,“I think the league competition will stay the same and we will have a strong shot at winning the league.”
Other statistical leaders include Oregon State commit Mark Weipert, who led the team in batting average, OPS, slugging percentage, hits, doubles, and triples. A monster year for Wepiert to say the least.
On the defensive side of things, it was Colorado Mesa commit, Justin Schramm getting things done. Standing at six feet six, and weighing 210. Schramm has submitted himself as one of the state’s top flamethrowers with a fastball topping out at 90mph while mixing in a curveball slider and changeup.
Schramm collected 85 strikeouts while only giving up 12 walks. Most impressively, Schramm only carried a .158 opponent batting average.
Another bittersweet ending to what was shaping up to be the year to go all the way. Rolling into the summer, Wilsonville baseball hopes to recoup and keep the dream alive.