West Branch senior Anthony Perry will become the ace of the Warriors baseball team. Perry was the pitcher who went 9-0 last season and won the Division II State Championship Game. (Morning Journal/Lonferth)
Beloit – At the end of the season a year ago, the West Branch Baseball team secured its place in their history as Division II state champions.
However, there is a big difference from last year’s team. Most notably, the shifts in head coaches. Ryan Wolf enters his first season as head coach, but his involvement with the team is nothing new. Wolf has been an assistant coach for the past few years, but he believes this person’s change isn’t a big factor.
Wolf took over for Rick Mulinix, who resigned when his son, Boston, became his fourth year.
“I was Columbiana’s head coach for eight years and he called me and talked about what I was coming.” Wolf said. “We’ve been working on this transition over the last few years when Boston was a senior. We messed up the role so he could enjoy his son’s fourth grade.”
Looking forward to this season, the Warriors lost a group of seniors who helped carry the team. These leadership roles are met by the senior class this year. West Branch has returned ten seniors and they all know what it takes to reach the top of the mountain.
“We have a lot of older kids who are mixed with a lot of young talent. We have high expectations for what we did, but we couldn’t even win the league, so one of our big goals is to go back to the top of the league and ride from there.” Wolf said. “Based on what we achieved last year, everyone knows that if we work towards it, those goals are within reach. With more departments now, we can make our vision a little better.”
Wolf said the vision is even clearer for the returning players. As the team continued to advance in the playoffs into May and June, Wolf said additional practice would help nine varsity-level players this season lead the younger group.
From that Coanain, Wolf said he hopes that leadership will affect young players who can contribute regularly, and that he shows how to take some of those seniors and train them, and how to support their abilities.
“It’s like having a lot of coaches on the field.” He said. “It’s a great team for me. When you have that experience and players can lead themselves, they’re your best team. We have a lot of it. They may not understand that, but younger kids follow them. That’s how you keep on having a great program.”
As for the goals this season, Wolf is now smaller and is working on his ultimate goal of winning a league title. That is, Wolf wants his team to develop.
“If I can see that we did everything to help raise them as young men to learn life lessons outside of baseball, we used baseball to teach them those lessons, and it’s a successful season despite the records.” He said. “We have a goal to win a league title, but I think we should compete deeply in the playoffs every year. Our goal is to always run deep, but we want to be the best team we can do in May to guide us through the playoffs.”
Wolf said the team’s identity was first pitching and defense. He believes coaches Sean Arazas and Gino Sabateen are preparing to eat innings for the pitcher despite losing three key starters. Defensively, Wolf said last year he believes the team can set school records with fielding percentages and replicate their performance.
“We are very focused on defense and operational prevention is very big for us.” He said. “One of the things we’ve lost this year is because strength.”
Offensively, he can see the team coming back “Small ball” and manufacturing run. He compared offensive offensive attacks to film moneyball and the philosophy of riding a base by any necessary means.
“We have people who can really drive the gaps, but that’s not proven from there. If we pitch and do great defenses, we’re always in the game and we’re able to get there.” He said. “We really want to focus on using base running and base passes. We want to get runs and ride the bases as needed.”
One area West Branch is trying to strengthen is pitching rotation. Three of last year’s graduates were important pitchers. Wolf said the younger crew will make a significant contribution from the perspective of the innings pitched.
“We’re bringing back Anthony Perry, but with so many other starters graduating, we hope that younger people will contribute and guide us.” He said.
Perry will be number one in the Western branch, which will begin the rotation. In the state title game, Perry won a nod and was crucial to the Warriors’ run in the postseason. Wolf said the element Perry brings to the table is competition. If the game fades or Perry falls into a jam, Wolf believes his natural competitive nature will cover the runners with base passes.
“He’s a competitor. His speed is good, his speed is good, but when there’s a runner in the second, he’s not going to let him score.” Wolf said. “It seems he gets better as the pressure increases. His orders are really good too. He places the ball where he wants and limits the amount of hard hit balls against him.”
The starting rotation is concluded by Jeremiah Thomas, Trevor Minig, Carter Thrasher and Evan Springer. Carter Thrasher and Evan Springer made their promise at JV last year, with Wolf celebrating the duo’s development into a varsity level talent.
“Thomas pitched for us last year. He started out with some games for us as a freshman and sophomore. Minig is another senior who had a really good JV year last season, so I want to get innings from him too.” Wolf said. “We have a lot of weapons and a lot of people who want to pitch, so we still appreciate it.”
Defensively, Wolf said the team’s strength was in the middle. Boston Mulinix locks the short stop, and if it’s not on the mound, Thomas handles the center field.
Crossing the diamond, Perry looks at the time on 3 base, with Maddox Coleman and Carson Wike also seen to some extent in the outfield.
There are several positions in the glove where there are several position battles. One such position is the catcher. Wolf said there is only a handful of utility players that are moved and connected when the situation asks for it.
“We’ve had experiences with seniors Charlie Biscupp and Walker Poubobo. They’re competing, and that’s what we want to see. We want that competition.” Wolf said. “One of the great things about our team, especially this year, is that they just compete, they are on the field and want to help the team win in some way.
Offensively, Wolf said Perry could drive the ball everywhere and Biscupp would see his name towards the top of the lineup card. He added that Thomas’ speed on base pass will support the Warriors’ manufacturing run.
Wolf said Wike has some good pop from the bat and he hopes Coleman will also produce.
“I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to get offensively from some of these people because of the experience.” He said. “We’re excited to go on with some scrimmage over these few weeks.”
West Branch will hold its 2025 season against Gillard on March 29th.
