With baseball season coming up, before every first game, there’s a jamboree. Wilsonville will host McMinnville, along with Mountainside, on Monday, March 16.
Teams were made on Saturday morning, following a Monday-Thursday tryout, where the varsity team will hold 18 players.
Wilsonville was ranked #17 according to prepbaseballreport.com in their pre-season top 25, which has been met with controversy — why? Wilsonville will retian Colby Kosderka, who led the team in innings and also posted an ERA of around 1.7. Kosderka committed to Lewis and Clark in the fall. Senior Grady Weise, who earned the honor of 1st team Relief pitcher last year, is gonna step into the role of a starting pitcher this year, and will be looked at as one of the top guys on the pitching staff. Junior Cole Weber returns as the shortstop. Weber had a batting average of around .350 last year, and drove in 20+ RBI’s. Sophomore Beau Johnson is projected to have a great sophomore campaign, having started as a freshman last year as the designated hitter. Lastly, junior Ben Wiepert, the football star, will track over to baseball this spring and will be a strong bat at the top of the lineup. Over the summer, Wilsonville also brought in a total of 5 transfers. Notably, Gabe Cruz, who is ranked the 23rd-ranked player in the state according to baseballnorthwest.com, along with Evan Eagle, who is looked at as one of the most underrated players in the state.
PBR scout/Linfield Baseball assistant Bryn Card shares what he and his PBR team saw and what they expect throughout the season from the #17 team in the state.
“When we were looking at them, as a staff, there are three main things we look at: who they returned, how much they returned, and what they lost. We don’t take into account transfers.” Gabe Cruz, Brady Wayland, Evan Eagle, and Quinton Ulicny all transferred from West Linn, who are all expected to make an impact somehow throughout the season.
“As a teacher here at Wilsonville, I know they all are on campus, but ultimately it goes back to what we look at as a team, which is who they lost and who they returned. And they lost a lot, which, when you take in everything, is what put them at 17.”
Looking towards the week and upcoming, Wilsonville doesn’t have much room to breathe; they will play two tough games in the jamboree on Monday evening.
Assistant coach TJ Drake describes the upcoming week: “Right now we’re just trying to get molded into a group, obviously with the jamboree next Monday, and then we gotta go to Willamette on Tuesday, and then West Albany at home Wednesday, we gotta be ready to go.” Drake adds, “We have to clean some stuff up, and get these guys as prepared as we can.”
The jamboree will be a good test for what’s to come on Tuesday for Wilsonville’s first game, against Willamette, where they will most likely face up the MPH range from 88-92 MPH from either the #1 player in the sophomore class, Zeke Thomas, or the #8 ranked player in the senior class, Mason Christian.
The Jamboree will be 2 inning-scrimmage setting between four teams.