Bonduel baseball team ready to defend CWC-East title

Despite losing a handful of players from last year’s Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division title-winning team, the Bonduel High School baseball team is confident it can contend for the crown again this spring.

Bonduel, which is coached by Donnie Gruenewald, finished 16-6 a season ago, going 10-2 in conference play to edge Amherst for first place.

The Bears must replace six seniors that played big roles last year. Of the team’s eight all-conference selections, four return.

Junior Cole Letter, a second team pick, will serve as the team’s catcher.

“We have high goals and expectations for each other and the team as a whole,” Letter said. “We are a talented group that has played together since 10U (10-and-under) and we have very tight chemistry which plays a huge factor. We believe we can compete for another conference championship and we have the mindset that we won’t settle for anything less.”

Also back for Bonduel and looking to fill in the voids left by the graduated seniors is Noah Beilfuss, Isaac Boldt and Parker Bohm, who were all honorable mentions last year.

Bohm, a senior, will play the outfield along with serving as a leader for the team. Juniors Boldt (second base, pitcher) and Beilfuss (second base, third base) will also be looked to as players to lead the team.

“We will definitely miss those seniors from last year but they taught and left us with a lot of motivation to continue working hard and to challenge ourselves and be a family,” Beilfuss said. “Our team this year is a strong baseball minded team that is ready to take the lead from them. We will need to push each other to be better and maybe out of our comfort zone.”

Senior Riddik Bohm (outfield, third base) also returns starting experience for Bonduel.

After losing its top two arms from last year, pitching will be one of the team’s areas of emphasis as things get rolling.

“Our hitting needs to step up some and we need someone to step up and be a big stopper on our pitching staff,” coach Gruenewald said. “We don’t have that shut down guy, yet.”

With a pair of games already postponed with lingering snow on its home diamond, Bonduel’s first scheduled game is now on the road against Green Bay Southwest on April 2. The team’s next home game is set for April 8 against Weyauwega-Fremont.

Clintonville

A year removed from a sectional appearance, Clintonville is now in rebuild mode after losing seven starters to graduation.

Clintonville went just 2-7 in North Eastern Conference play last year, but upset three straight teams to win a Division 2 regional title. The Truckers magical run was ended by Mosinee, which went on to play at state, in the sectional semifinal.

Coach Ben Smejkal still has a few returning all-conference players to help build a lineup, starting with second team selection Jared Cartwright. The junior can play several positions and will also find his way into the pitching rotation.

Senior Matthew Morse (infield, pitcher) and junior Presley Rosenow (utility) are also back for the Truckers — they each made the honorable mention team last year.

Sean Finger (utility) and Trent Vollmer (utility) are a pair of seniors that could land expanded roles, while the opportunity is also there for a junior, sophomore or freshman to step up.

“This is definitely a rebuilding year for the Truckers having lost seven starters to graduation,” Smejkal said. “We are still waiting for a team leader to emerge and take the reigns, especially in the pitching ranks.

“The sophomore and junior players are very athletic, talented players that can play multiple positions. This can be hopefully be used to our advantage.”

Clintonville is scheduled to open the season hosting Little Chute on April 2.