“We’re getting better every day, which is, we need to. We can see it and guys are really working hard and buying in. We have a lot of guys that are kind of all limped together. Guys now are getting close to win some spots or get close to winning some spots. But we feel, especially in the outfield, that we could run five, six different guys out there in a week and feel pretty comfortable they’re going to help us out.”

Dave Darr, Park head baseball coach

The Wolfpack’s season opener at Hastings, originally set for Friday, April 7, has been postponed. Park is now scheduled to open the season at Irondale on Monday, April 10, starting at 4:30 p.m.

With back-to-back appearances in the state tournament, including a state runner-up finish in 2021, the obvious question this season is what the Park Wolfpack can do for an encore.

Park has gone 22-8 and 20-8 the last two seasons, winning two section championships, as well as a state-runner up finish in 2021 and a consolation championship in 2022.

The Wolfpack won the Section 3AAAA title last June and advanced to state, losing a hard-fought 3-2 decision to eventual state runner-up Farmington in the first round. Park went on to capture the consolation title with a 10-0 win over St. Louis Park and a 5-2 victory against Sartell.

It is the proverbial tough act to follow.

And it was a senior-dominated team last season. Most of the Park stars which led to the team’s success the last two years have departed. Missing from this year’s roster are pitcher/third baseman Jackson Tessman, shortstop Josh Hatano, outfielders Micah Runion, Blake Johnson and Noah Janski, outfielder/second baseman/pitcher Sam Janski, infielder/pitcher Brady Strand and catcher Will Smoot. That’s eight players gone from last year’s lineup which started against Farmington. And a lot of star power to be replaced.

Returning for the Wolfpack are pitcher/third baseman Brady Drkula, infielder/pitcher Boston Weidner, centerfielder Elijah Moechnig, first baseman Nathan Waterman, and outfielder/pitcher Justin Kasa.

Drkula ended the season as the No. 1 pitcher for the Wolfpack last season. Moechnig usually started in centerfield.

“It won’t be new for those two, it will be somewhat new for everyone else,” said Park head coach Dave Darr. “We have a lot of guys that have to get old in a hurry. And that’s tough to do.”

Park went 20-8 overall last season, winning the Section 3AAAA final in a dramatic 1-0 game two victory over Rosemount to gain the state tournament. In the Class AAA state tourney, Park lost a tough 3-2 opener to eventual tournament runner up Farmington. The Wolfpack then blitzed St. Louis Park 10-0 in the Class AAAA consolation semifinal before beating Sartell-St. Stephan 5-3 for the consolation championship.

The Wolfpack finished second in the Suburban East Conference during the 2022 season with a 13-5 record, one game back of first place Stillwater which went on to win the state championship.

This year’s Park team will be very different from the past two years, but Darr is optimistic on the season.

“We’re getting better every day, which is, we need to,” Darr said. “We can see it and guys are really working hard and buying in. We have a lot of guys that are kind of all limped together. Guys now are getting close to win some spots or get close to winning some spots. But we feel, especially in the outfield, that we could run five, six different guys out there in a week and feel pretty comfortable they’re going to help us out.”:

Strengths of this year’s team should be defense and pitching depth.

“We’ll have more pitching depth this year,” said Darr. “Last year we had four, five guys. I think we’ll go seven, eight this year that we’ll feel comfortable with. We’ve got more guys that we’ll feel comfortable putting out for an inning that will be pretty successful. And our top three or four guys will throw – we feel we’ve got some pretty good throwers.”

That list includes Drkula, junior lefthanders Adam Tate and Charlie Brook, Chase Cavalluzzi, junior Anson Doctor, brothers David and Nolan Rolfe, Weidner and Kasa.

“I do think we’re going to field it pretty well,” said Darr. “We’ve got a good amount of outfielders who can go get it this year. Last year we maybe had two guys that we felt if the ball was hit they could chase it down. This year we’ve got about four, five, six of those guys that can run and go get it. Defensively we were pretty good last year in the infield and I think that will be – we’re going to have to be this year.

“We’re not going to hit nearly as well as we did last year,” Darr continued. “We hit .314 as a team last year. In our conference that’s really good. It’s foolish to think we’re going to do that. We just don’t have the upper echelon hitting that we had. I do think we’re going to hit but a little bit, but we’re going to have to find ways if its bunting or taking advantage of extra bases when we can. If we get three hits in an inning, we’re going to have to score a couple of runs off of that. We’re not going to have three-run home runs like we did last year as consistently. Brady will hit his home runs and we might have a few guys who will run into one now and then but I don’t think we have a Josh Hatano or a Tessman or Will Smoot who any pitch the ball can leave the yard.

Park scored 10 runs or more in nine games last season.

“We won’t have as much room for error this year,” Darr concluded. “We’re going to have to take care of the ball and value and get outs and not give away bases and give away runs. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see us consistently scoring seven, eight, runs a game. But I don’t think we’re going to give up a ton of runs, either.”

East Ridge, Stillwater will be two of the better teams in the likely Suburban East Conference this season, Darr said. “This is just a tough conference. Everybody is going to be good.”

The Wolfpack’s season opener at Hastings, originally set for Friday, April 7, has been postponed. Park is now scheduled to open the season at Irondale on Monday, April 10, starting at 4:30 p.m.