First year Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth baseball coach Jason Langland has eight seniors to build his 2002 team around. Standing, left to right, are: Justin Van Maanen, Chris Tiesler, Darin DeBoer, Shintaro Hayashi and Kevin Van Batavia. Missing are David Top, Paul Jess and Lyle DeBoer.
By John Rittenhouse
The 2002 baseball season will be made up of a lot of firsts for the Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth squad.
For the first time in the eight-year history of the program, the Patriots will be playing for a different head coach.
As well as playing for a new mentor, the 2002 Patriots will be members of a new conference for the first time.
The season of change actually began last June, when then H-BC superintendent Tom Knoll stepped down from that position to take a new post in Hayfield.
Along with an administrator, the H-BC School District lost the only head baseball coach it ever had. Knoll served as the head coach when the program began in 1995 until last spring, when a 3-11-1 campaign came to an end with an 11-1 loss to Adrian in the Section 3A Tournament.
H-BC officials found a replacement for Knoll in Ellsworth, where they hired first-year teacher Jason Langland to be their new head baseball coach.
Langland, a second-grade teacher in Ellsworth, has gained a lot of coaching experience in a short time. He was head coach of the Ellsworth volleyball team last fall, and he served as an assistant basketball coach at the school over the winter.
The new H-BC-E mentor played American Legion baseball for Sioux Valley High School in Volga, S.D, where he graduated in 1995. He went on to play two years of college baseball at Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, S.D., where he graduated in 1999.
Langland admits he's new to the baseball scene in southwest Minnesota, but likes the idea of having a top-heavy roster that consists of eight seniors, four juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen.
"It's nice to have a big group of seniors. WeÕve only practiced outside a couple of days, and we're still in the process of getting to know each other," he said.
The new coach inherited three quality players in seniors David Top, Lyle DeBoer and Justin Van Maanen, who probably will emerge as H-BC-E's top pitchers this spring. Top also plays first base. Van Maanen and DeBoer also are infielders.
Senior catcher Darin DeBoer returns as a starter, and classmates Chris Tiesler (second base-third base) Paul Jess (infielder-outfielder) and Kevin Van Batavia (outfielder) are other experienced seniors.
Senior exchange student Shintaro Hayashi also is listed as an outfielder.
Juniors on the team include Kyle Sammons, Tyson Metzger, Clint Roozenboom and Brant Deutsch.
Deutsh is a first baseman, Sammons an infielder and Metzger a second baseman-outfielder. Roozenboom is listed as an outfielder.
Sophomore outfielder-infielder Ryan Heikes, freshman infielders Kenny Bittner and Zach Wysong and outfielder Brian Gacke, and eighth-grade infielder-outfielder Zach Jenniges round out the roster.
Along with having a new team leader, the Patriots will compete in the Red Rock Conference for the first time.
That means their annual games with Adrian, Murray County Central, Edgerton and Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster have added meaning. Other league games will be played against Red Rock Central-Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
H-BC-E opens the season in Brewster Tuesday.