Baseball is in Phillip Zens’ blood. The Aberdeen Smittys player has been around the game for much of his life, and attributes that to his relatives for introducing him to it.

“I’ve really been playing for as long as I can remember,” Zens said. “My uncle, Stewart Bohle, he’s the head basketball coach over there in Ipswich, he’s really the one who got me started on sports, along with my mom.”

Since becoming involved with the sport, Zens says his favorite part about baseball has been enjoying the camaraderie that has been built with his friends.

“Just being with my friends all the time, all summer pretty much. We see each other every single day. We get to hang out in the hotel rooms on trips,” Zens said. “That’s probably my favorite part. It’s not really anything about the game. It’s just being with my friends and competing every day.”

Zens has especially enjoyed playing with the current group of Smittys players over the past few years.

“It’s definitely something I enjoy. I’ve been playing with these guys for the past four or five years, and this year we’ve added a few younger guys, and I think that’s added a lot of diversity to the team, especially having some of those older, super senior guys, along with some younger guys,” Zens said. “I think that’s really helped us come together and be a good team.”

Zens has played a major role in his own right, making an impact on both the offensive and defensive ends for the Smittys.

Defensively, Zens is a big part of the Smittys’ pitching rotation, and while he takes the role seriously, he also knows he has to stay in his lane and do his job.

“Really, it’s a big spot, but also you have to remember that you just have to go out there and do your thing and not try to do too much. When you try to do too much you start to get yourself into some jams and start walking guys and things like that,” Zens said. “When I’m on the mound I usually just try to do my thing, get ahead of hitters, and then just go from there.”

On offense, Zens has come up with some big hits and RBI in key moments, but also reminds himself that he will not make every big play in the big moment.

“It’s pretty cool, but also you have to remember that you can’t make the big hit every single time,” Zens said. “You’re not always going to be the guy that drives in the big run and makes the big play every single time, so you just have to go up there and stick to your approach, look for the pitch you want to hit, and then once you get that pitch or you don’t get that pitch, you go from there. That’s kind of what I try to do when I’m up there in those big moments.”

Zens has become a baseball fanatic, so much so that he is hardly ever away from the field during the summer.

“Usually most of my summer is on the baseball field, whether that’s in Aberdeen at practice, games, or out of town, but otherwise I go out to the lake sometimes, hang out with my family and stuff like that,” he said.

Zens, a recent graduate of Aberdeen Roncalli, also participated in football and hockey while in high school. While he enjoys baseball, he says football has a special place in his heart.

“Football’s definitely got a special place. It’s just that bond that all of us had together,” Zens said. “We go to school every day with each other. We work out pretty much every day in the summer, and that bond we built was pretty special. Our coaches were all really close, so that was definitely a special place for me.”

This fall Zens will be attending Northern State University, and while he is not exactly sure what degree he will be pursuing, he plans on getting his general classes done before possibly pursuing an accounting degree.

While Zens is still debating his college and career goals, there is no question what his goals are for the rest of the baseball season.

“We definitely want to be able to find a way to host a regional. That’s a goal that we’ve set at the start of the year is being able to host a regional, being one of those top eight teams in the state, and then obviously, hopefully we can compete at that regional and make it to the state tournament,” Zens said. “Individually, I think that I just want to be myself, not try to do too much, especially with recent success. I don’t want to try and overdo myself and then fall into some rough spots, so just kind of be myself out there and do what I know what to do.”