Rebuilding Season for the PACT Panthers

The PACT baseball season, coached by Mr. Coleman, will be starting in April. Their home games will be at Central Park in Ramsey Minnesota. The team is preparing the their season by having indoor captains practices every Saturday.

This year the team, as always, will be coached by Mr. Coleman. The captains this year will be Cade Johnson and Jaylen Schweiger. These two players including, Payton Brown, Matt Johnson, Drew Johnson, Zach Hagen, and Blake Backowski, were all standout players last year according to Jaylen and Mr. Coleman.

Mr. Coleman said that these guys were the standout player because, they were all starters for the team last year. “Cade was all-conference last year as a 10th grader and we are hopeful that we will have a lot of new players step up into new starting roles.” said Mr. Coleman.

Jaylen Schweiger said that their hopes/goals for this season are, “To have a 500 or above average and get our younger guys experience on the varsity level.” They also hope to get better for next years season. Mr. Coleman's said that “We are a young team with no returning seniors from last year.” He also that that we hope to have a winning record and improve a lot so that they have a chance at the state tournament next year.

This year the team plans on doing many things to improve their team overall, such as, “getting players stronger and becoming a better team mentally and physically” said Jaylen. Payton Brown said that he hopes the team will improve their all around hitting.

Mr. Coleman hopes the offseason practice will help, “Since last season many of our players have competed on a summer baseball team together as well as a fall ball team.” Marc Backowski, one the coaches for the team, has been working with some of the players on their hitting. Mr. Coleman said that they will continue to offer summer and fall teams so that the players have more time to improve their game.

Offseason teams/clubs - that are not directly through the school are a common practice for serious high school athletes. These teams/clubs, that normally have students from our team, work on improving their skills for our school's season. These offseason teams are not “official” practice for the school, but serves as extra opportunities to practice skills and build “team.”

The season officially starts in April. Their first game will be on

the third of April, sadly an away game, against Braham (Mr. Coleman’s home town). Their first home game will be on the eleventh of April against Southwest Christian at their home field at Central Park in Ramsey Minnesota.

To prepare for the upcoming season the team is having captains practices in the gym every Saturday day. And one of the coaches has been doing individuals work with some of the players. The coach has been working with them on their hitting to help them improve.

When asked how he think the team will do overall this season Jaylen said, “I think we will be good because we have a lot of young talent and it’s all about building us for next year because no one will be leaving our team next year so we will have two years to build a solid foundation of our baseball team”

Jaylen said that people should come to the games, “Because it’s fun and to support the baseball team.” Mr. Coleman encourages students to go to the games because, “Spring baseball is a lot of fun to watch and we have been very competitive for many years.” Coleman continued saying, “Spring is a great time to get outside and enjoy the nice weather again, we play at a nice local park. Also it’s FREE!”

Jaylen said that the team has high hopes for this season because “we have no seniors, and have two years to build on this.” Mr. Coleman said that, “I have high hopes that we will make a lot of progress this year, and we will see a great deal of team growth.” He said that he’s excited to see how the players will work their way into new roles.

The hope for this season if to get people at the games, cheering, supporting our team and having fun. This season could determine PACT’s baseball team’s future. Let’s not let them down and let’s support as they work to reach their goals. If anything, it’s a great excuse to get outside!