Play Ball; Owatonna ‘Nine’ Ready to Start Their Season

After their season opener Tuesday, April 12 was postponed, the Huskies are opening their season in chilly, breezy conditions on Wednesday, April 13 against Rochester John Marshall. In about six weeks the playoffs begin.

Owatonna coach Tate Cummins was pleased with the initial week of arm conditioning after a good winter of guys playing catch in the gym. "We do return some players from last year. We did have a great season. Last year we graduated a number of awesome seniors," he said during a Coaches' Show interview. OHS was 12-10 in 2021.

"We are going to have a mixture of guys that did get that (playing) time last year that were juniors...The competitiveness is definitely there." He adds, "It looks like some of our players definitely hit the weight room throughout the winter."

Owatonna High School's baseball schedule is below. Home games (bold) are played at Fuller Field at Dartt's Park.

• Tuesday, April 12 at Austin (postponed)
• Wednesday, April 13 vs John Marshall, 5 pm
• Tuesday, April 19 vs Faribault, 5 pm
• Thursday, April 21 vs Red Wing, 5 pm
• Saturday, April 23 at Rochester Century, 11 am doubleheader
• Tuesday, April 26 vs Winona, 5 pm
• Thursday, April 28 at Mankato West, 5 pm
• Tuesday, May 3 vs Rochester Mayo, 4 pm doubleheader
• Thursday, May 5 at Mankato East, 5 pm
• Friday, May 6/Saturday, May 7 at St. Cloud Invitational
• Tuesday, May 10 vs Rochester John Marshall
• Thursday, May 12 at Northfield, 4 pm doubleheader
• Thursday, May 19 vs Mankato West, 5 pm
• Friday, May 20 at Lakeville South, 4:30 pm
• Tuesday, May 24 at Albert Lea, 5 pm

Mankato West won the Big Nine title last spring and opens the season as the top-rated team in Class AAA. OHS is a Class AAAA team. Cummins says the Scarlets should be solid again, "They did graduate a number of players, but underclassmen provided a lot of strength to their overall lineup."

"I think Rochester Mayo is going to be a nice surprise. They have a number of pitchers back. They typically hit pretty well. I think they're gonna be good. Rochester Century will be sneaky just because they have a number of guys that can really throw." OHS was runner-up in the Big Nine last year.

Farmington won the Section 1AAAA title in 2021 and went on to capture the state championship.

Huskies varsity roster

• No. 1 Eli Knutson, sr
• No. 3 Teagun Ahrens, jr
• No. 4 Dylan Maas, sr
• No. 5 Nick Williams, sr
• No. 6 Ayden Walter, jr
• No. 8 Grant Achterkirch, sr
• No. 9 Chris Homuth, jr
• No. 11 Taylor Bogen, sr
• No. 12 Jack Helget, sr
• No. 13 Mitch Seykora, so
• No. 14 Drew Krestlow, jr
• No. 16 Cael Dowling, sr
• No. 18 Briley Highfield, jr
• No. 20 Caleb Vereide, sr
• No. 21 Owen Beyer, so
• No. 22 Jonathan Clubb, jr
• No. 24 Addison Andrix, sr
• No. 25 Collin McShane, jr

Coaching staff

• Tate Cummins, head coach
• Brian Price
• James Dahlgren
• Adam Trautman
• Steve Benson
• Tyler Keller
• Brandon Wolf
• Travis Hilstad