While the number in the win column keeps growing, Malcolm Legion baseball coach Tanner Soderberg sees plenty of room for improvement as his teams gear up for a postseason run they hope ends with two more state championship plaques.
The juniors and seniors combined to go 5-0 last week. But not all wins came easily—particularly for the seniors, who pulled out a pair of 4-2 victories over Lincoln Hotel Group from Standing Bear on July 1 and Nebraska Door & Window from Seward on July 2.
“In some of these games, we’re throwing too many pitches,” Soderberg said after the win over Standing Bear. “We’re not pounding the zone like I know we can.”
Malcolm pitchers issued seven walks in that game—continuing a trend from the previous week’s Peterson/Coach K Tournament, when the team averaged nearly five free passes per game.
“This late in the year, after all the games our guys have played this spring and summer, I’m confident we can throw more strikes,” Soderberg said. “I’m a big fan of games with good pitching and defense.”
That made Mason Wisnieski’s outing against Seward a refreshing change. The Hutchinson CC commit went the distance, striking out 13 of the 27 batters he faced while walking just one.
“Mason’s pitching has come a long way,” Soderberg said. “He’s worked really hard and developed some off-speed pitches that keep hitters off balance.”
Offensively, the seniors—who averaged nearly 10 runs per game during the high school season—have scored four or fewer in five of their last seven games.
“We’re having too many unproductive outs,” Soderberg said. “We have some things to work on at the plate.”
The seniors wrapped up the week with a 5-0 win at Wakefield on July 6 during which Wisnieski, Brixon Meyer and Carson Frank each recorded an extra base hit while Gavin Little faced the minimum through three innings to earn his first win for the seniors.
The juniors kept rolling with two more run-rule wins. On July 1, Meyer and Brandon Wisnieski each drove in two runs as Malcolm capitalized on four errors to beat the Allstar Dent & Detail juniors from Standing Bear 9-1. Little earned the win, scattering four hits and striking out three.
A night later, Malcolm erupted for eight runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 15-3 rout of Seward DataVizion.
The Malcolm Reserves had a full slate—seven games over seven days. After opening with a 7-6 win over Lincoln Southeast on June 30, they dropped their next six, including an 0-4 showing at the Millard Sox Tournament.
The Reserves (2-17) wrap up their regular season Tuesday at Fremont before heading to the Class B Reserves State Tournament, which begins Friday, July 11, in Elkhorn.
The Malcolm Juniors (22-1) closed out their regular season at home Monday with a 14-2 win over Wayne. They will enter the Class C Area 3 Tournament in Wilber as the top seed. Other teams in the field include Adams, Dwight, Elmwood-Murdock, Lincoln Lutheran and Tecumseh. The tournament runs Friday through next Tuesday, July 15.
The Malcolm Seniors (13-5) defeated Wayne 7-2 on Monday, then host Lincoln Pius X’s Union Bank & Trust team for a Tuesday doubleheader. They welcome the New Zealand 19U national team Thursday, July 10, at 3 p.m. before wrapping up the week with a home game against Gana Trucking from Hickman Friday, July 11, starting at 6 p.m.
