By Staff
INMAN – While the season may not have gone as hoped, the Inman baseball team did finish with a winning record at 12-8 and earned one Teuton, Brant Mikulecky, all-state honors.
Due to upgrades being made on their home field, the Teutons traveled for everything and as a team the Teutons still finished 12-8 overall and 7-5 in Heart of America League games while ending their season with a 4-2 loss to Whitewater/Remington in their Class 2-1A state regionals.
“I was very proud of this team for the effort they put in,” noted Teuton head coach Matt Mikulecky. “We travelled for practice every day and played all of our games on the road due to our local field being under construction. I think the guys got a little road weary this season and I personally found it challenging to get into a good battle rhythm with our practices. Looking back, I would change some things with our practice plans, but you learn and grow.”
As a team they hit .249 with 118 hits, 92 runs scored, 61 walks, 22 doubles and four triples. The pitching staff combined to throw 128 innings and 2,090 pitches, giving up 117 hits, 63 earned runs, walking 47 and striking out a total of 217.
Coach Mikulecky continued by saying, “Our pitching and defense carried us all season and the entire team contributed to that success. We couldn’t get out bats going consistently, and I think it got in our heads. A confident hitter is a good hitter and vice versa, and that is probably the toughest thing to do in sports. It is not easy to get out of that funk.”
Brant Mikulecky led the team in nearly every category as he played at a level that earned him 1st Team All-State honors by the Kansas Association of Baseball Coached as an outfielder as well as 1st team all Heart of America League as a pitcher. Mikulecky has also been chosen to play in the annual KABC All-Star game on June 7 in Manhattan before heading to play baseball at Kansas Wesleyan in the fall.
Mikulecky led the team in hitting with a.526 average on 57 at bats where he produced 30 hits, 21 runs scored, 12 runs batted in and walked 11 times. Mikulecky finished with five doubles, accounting for all four of the teams triples and stealing a team high 23 bases. When on the mound, Mikulecky threw 50.2 innings, 718 pitches while giving up 25 hits, six earned runs with eight walks and 95 strikeouts to finish with a 6-1 record.
Caleb Bigler was the other top pitcher for 2023, throwing 47 innings and 725 pitches. Bigler gave up 38 hits, 20 earned runs, walked 15 and struck out 80. Bigler earned second team Heart of the league honors as a pitcher.am
At the plate, Samuel Shober hit .345 with 20 hits, 13 runs scored, 14 runs batted in while walking just twice. Shober led the Teutons in doubles with seven and made second-team Heart of America League as a designated hitter.
Jesse Ballard was the third Teuton to hit over .300 for the season, finishing with an average of .333 on 20 hits, with 13 runs batted in, five walks and three doubles while being named second team all Heart of America as a utility player.
Concluding is post-season reflections, Coach Mikulecky added, “I will be forever grateful and honored to have been able to coach our seniors and look forward to seeing their success in the future. They lost their freshman season due to COVID and were not able to play in front of their hometown fans as seniors or get a true senior night – yet they maintained a great attitude and work ethic. Sammy Shober, Zaden Johnson, Grant Weins, Rhett Gilkey and Brant Mikulecky have played a lot of baseball together and will always be teammates. Each and every one of them are of high character, hard working and respectful young men that have left their mark here at Inman and will have great success in their future endeavors.”
INMAN TEUTON HITTING – Top 9 (gp-ab-avg-h-r-rbi-bb): Brant Mikulecky > 20-57-.526-30-21-12-11; Samuel Shober > 20-58-.345-20-13-14-2; Jesse Ballard > 20-63-.333-21-0-13-5; Zaden Johnson > 20-60-.217-13-9-7-4; Caleb Bigler > 20-44-.182-8-10-4-9; Brody Froese > 20-41-.146-6-10-3-11; Rhett Gildkey > 20-49-.143-7-0-11-7; Telon Welch > 16-48-.132-5-5-3-2; Grant Weins > 17-22-.091-2-4-1-5. Team Totals > 20-474-.249-118-92-68-61. 2B (22) > Shober – 7; Mikulecky – 5; Ballard – 3; seven with 1. 3B (4) > Mikulecky – 4. HR (0).
INMAN TEUTON PITCHING – Top 4 (IP-P-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Brant Mikulecky (6-1) > 50.2-718-25-15-6-8-95; Caleb Bigler (4-4) > 47.0-725-38-29-20-15-80; Jesse Ballard (2-1) > 14.0-281-20-17-16-8-23; Grant Weins (0-1) > 10.1-232-16-21-16-16-15. Team Totals > 128.0-2,090-117-98-63-47-217.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)