Plenty of young talent will play key roles for area high school baseball teams this spring.

Redfield, which features a young squad, will be looking to get back to the state tournament after missing the tourney last year. Warner-Ipswich-Northwestern (W-I-N) is looking to shore up its defense with a balanced attack, while Groton is motivated to get its first ever postseason victory.

The Redfield Muskrats, a perennial power, are aiming to get back to the state tournament after just falling short last year. They lost standout Eli Morissette to graduation, but the younger players used last year to gain valuable experience.

“We started an eighth grader and a sophomore up the middle, two sophomores and like two more freshmen, so we were pretty young,” said Redfield coach Tommy Gregg. “We had a ton of guys that were young, getting out there every day and compete and get their feet wet.”

Gregg is looking at the current group of players with a lot of optimism for Redfield to get back to its rich tradition.

“You look around and you feel like you got some good players and they’re young. And the exciting part about that as a coach is that I really got this guy for three more years, four more years,” Gregg said. “We’ll get back to what we need to be and it’s going to be because of this group and the ability we feel like we have.”

The Muskrats have a balanced lineup which they view as one of their strengths coming into this season.

“We got some good players, but there’s not like just a guy that’s like head and shoulders better than the next one and that’s OK,” said Gregg. “You know we can play good team ball and have those guys keep developing, keep pushing them.”

Two guys that will be counted on for major contributions are Micah Zastrow and Noah Johnson, both who played significant roles on last year’s team.

“A guy in the middle of our lineup that swings it pretty well is Micah Zastrow. He plays a little first base and he’s a sophomore,” said Gregg. “Noah Johnson, he’s a junior, plays outfield. Both of those guys, we look at them as being guys that have been around for a couple of years and are like ‘Hey, you gotta be our leaders.’”

Redfield is heading into the season wanting to win now in a competitive region.

“We’re pretty young, and that’s what makes it kind of exciting, and you win a little bit and you’re kind of like woah, we’re young,” Gregg said. “It makes you feel like you could get some longevity out of this crew and our region’s historically good.”

One of the newest teams which is making an impact already on the region is W-I-N. The squad got its postseason cut short after a loss to Redfield last year and plans on using that experience as an area of improvement for this year.

“It was kind of those one or two mistakes ended up costing that first round playoff loss to Redfield last year by one run. It was just errors,” said W-I-N coach Jeremiah Maxfield. “That’s kind of been our thing this year. I wanna be better on defense, and I’ve been pushing defense.”

The guys returning to this year’s squad want to erase the disappointing memories from a year ago.

“I think it leaves kind of a sour taste in their mouth, which is good. You should never be OK with losing. At some point you’re going to lose, but it’s what can you learn from it,” Maxfield said. “They’re hungry. They wanna win, because they know what they’re capable of.”

A pair of players who will be leaned on this spring are Devon Fischbach and Drew Bakeberg.

“Of course, we got Devon Fischbach back and he’s a senior. He’s our leadoff guy and when he’s going offensively, that whole team follows suit. He brings a lot of energy to that team and plays a key position, shortstop. Got a lot of speed, and a very, very high baseball IQ,” Maxfield said. “We also have Drew Bakeberg. He’s been in centerfield for multiple years, but I think you’ve seen him really step up more with the bat this year, which is great. He brings great defense and has an absolute cannon.”

W-I-N has a solid lineup from top to bottom, something Maxfield considers a strength this season.

“They can all hit. They’re all athletic. You know everybody can run,” he said. “So, I think that’s gonna be kind of key for us is just being able to run, being athletic all the way up and down the order.”

Maxfield makes sure his guys are staying positive and fighting to the finish.

“It’s just kind of that never-quit mentality. I tell guys it doesn’t matter how you start, it’s all about how we finish,” Maxfield said. “Baseball is a game of failure. It’s the only sport where you can fail 10 times and still be considered great. It’s not an easy sport, it’s a lot of mental toughness and it doesn’t matter if you start the game going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, if you step up and get that double to score that winning run, people are gonna remember the success.”

Groton will look to win its first playoff game after falling just short to Sioux Valley last year.

“Last year we got beat by Sioux Valley in the first round of playoffs. Our regular season record was 6-4,” said Groton coach Seth Erickson. “We’ve had good regular seasons the last few years and now we want to take that next step. We haven’t won a playoff game yet and that is haunting us.”

The Groton squad features a combination of experienced players as well as young players looking to step into major roles this season. Groton will be led by three upperclassmen, all who gained all-region honors a year ago.

“We are led by senior Brevin Fliehs (all-region last year), senior Carter Simon (honorable mention all-region last season) and junior Gavin Englund (all-region last season). Carter has a big bat and will be playing a new position for us, first base,” Erickson said. “Gavin also has a big bat and is our ‘ace’ in the rotation. He had a great year last year and has the tools to be great. Brevin can do it all and has been doing it at a high level for almost four years now. Brevin is one of the best players we’ve had here.”

On the flip side, the young players are what excites Erickson coming into this season, as well as seasons in the future. “I’m excited to see some of the young guys step up this year now that they’ve had a season under their belts,” said Erickson. “We have two freshmen, TC Schuster and Alex Abeln that will see some time on the mound. Young guys with a ton of potential. Eighth-grader Jordan Schwan is a big presence and has phenomenal speed. We expect big things out of these guys in the future.”