Prep baseball: Ramblers hoping to make more history this postseason

May 17—The Regis Ramblers baseball team has now won back to back conference championships for the third time in school history.

The program has been around since 1947 and they also accomplished the feat in the 1972-73 seasons and in 2017-18. They have ten conference championships in program history.

Coming up in the postseason, they have another championship they would like to defend from last season: the WIAA Division 4 state title.

The Ramblers began this season as the No. 1 ranked team in Division 4—just like they did in 2022—and are hoping to end the season on top again as well.

Regis head coach Andy Niese said he told his players at the beginning of the season their biggest obstacle in having another memorable year will be themselves and the mindset they have for every game.

"What I told them is our biggest obstacle will just be mentally, how we approach the season," Niese said. "Can we stay focused, motivated and recognize and understand that we really have an opportunity here to do something extremely special."

The Ramblers are 15-2 for the season so far including 11-0 in Western Cloverbelt Conference play. They have non conference games against Saint Croix Falls and Cumberland on Friday and Saturday this week before wrapping up the regular season against conference rival McDonell next Monday.

The Ramblers are led by their senior class of nine players who have experienced a lot of winning in their time at Regis.

"It wouldn't be a stretch to say this is as good a class of baseball players as the program has ever had," Niese said. "Not only in terms of talent, but just what they have been able to accomplish. Back to back state appearances, a state title, they're having another awesome season (this year), back to back conference championships."

Comparing this season's team to last year's, Niese said they rely on their pitching a little bit more. They still have outstanding offensive numbers, just not quite as high as last season.

The Ramblers currently have a .326 batting average and are scoring 8.65 runs per game this season, down from a 3.91 batting average and 10.79 runs per game in 2022.

They are led by the six seniors they have at the top of their lineup. Sam Knickerbocker leads the team with a .488 batting average. Cole Selvig is at a .386 batting average, followed by Zander Rockow at .368, Patrick Callaghan at .364, Cooper Dykes at .356, and Caden Weber at .345.

Team pitching numbers have gone up compared to last season. The Ramblers rely on a strong pitching staff made up of four of their seniors: starters Selvig, Dykes and Callaghan and Weber as their closer.

Their team ERA is 1.58 this season compared to 2.02 last season. They are averaging 9.71 strikeouts per seven innings compared to 8.13 last year.

Selvig is 5-0 with a 0.32 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 22 innings. Dykes is 4-1 with a 1.46 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 24 innings, and Callaghan is 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 23 innings. Weber has recorded six saves and has a 2.72 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 18 innings.

"Our pitching coach Jeff Dykes has done an incredible job of instilling a routine in these guys, preparing them to pitch and just the mentality of throwing strikes," Niese said. "And just mentally and physically preparing yourself to pitch throughout the week and recovering from your starts."

All six of their top seniors will be going on to play college athletics after graduating this spring.

Selvig will be playing baseball for the Longhorns at the University of Texas. Rockow will be playing football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Dykes and Callaghan will be playing baseball at St. Norbert, Knickerbocker will be playing at St. Mary's in Winona and Weber will be playing football at UW-La Crosse.

In their final regular season game next Monday, the Ramblers will be attempting to run the table in conference play for the second consecutive year in the Western Cloverbelt with a perfect 12-0 record. First pitch against McDonell is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Casper Park in Chippewa Falls.