Kee baseball team makes considerable turn-around during 2016 campaign, plays to 24-15 season record and first UIC season championship since 2013
After playing to an 11-22 season record last summer, the Kee baseball team was looking to make significant strides in just the second year of Coach Jim Mauss being at the helm of the Hawk diamond dweller program. Not only did strides get made in reversing that season record to a 24-15 tally for the Hawks this season, but even further steps were taken all the way to the top of where Kee baseball has not been able to venture in the two previous seasons, the Hawks claiming the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) season championship for the first time since the 2013 season with a 14-2 UIC mark.
“The greatest accomplishment was winning conference after such a tough year last year,” Coach Mauss shared. “We learned how to compete in tight games and found ourselves on top in the majority of those contests. We will once again have a target on our backs after winning conference and winning 24 games total, but we also got throttled in our second-round game in embarrassing fashion. If we keep that game in the back of our minds and understand we only accomplished one of our two team goals in 2016, we should have plenty of motivation and fuel for 2017.”
With Coach Mauss defining the team goals in his season preview as “conference title and state title; no excuses, no exceptions,” the strides made this season are simply that, strides made. The work yet to be done to reach that second goal still remains to be accomplished, according to the second-year head Hawk.
“Learning how to win was the biggest challenge,” Coach Mauss explained. “The boys’ (athletic) programs at Kee have been struggling and when that happens you can fall into a routine and it’s difficult to change. For me personally, I’ve never been great at accepting losing, so I try and outwork my opponent and want to win more than him. I try to have that mindset in my players as well and use practice time to put ourselves in a position to win on game days.”
The learning curve on those victories proved to be a rather quick one for the Hawks this season, as they more than doubled their win total from Coach Mauss’ first season at the helm last summer. The close games he talked about this season included a total of nine one-run final margins, with Kee coming out on top in six of those games.
A pair of non-winning streaks - one to start the season and another near the end of the 2016 campaign - provided the biggest proof of work yet to be done, as the Hawks opened the season with three consecutive losses and four defeats in its first five games of the season. But the month of June saw the Hawks piece together their 14 Upper Iowa Conference wins, all in a row during a 16-4 stretch, before finally suffering their only two UIC losses of the season to Class 2A North Fayette Valley as part of another five-game skid to end the month of June.
Despite being swept by North Fayette Valley in its two final UIC games - both of those losses coming in mercy-rule fashion, Kee still emerged as this season’s Upper Iowa Conference champion, as the TigerHawks had suffered losses to three other UIC teams that Kee had swept in conference play during its championship campaign. The Hawks regrouped from that final five-game slide to finish the regular season with a three-game winning streak that included the final of those one-run victories, a 3-2 triumph over Class 2A State Tournament qualifier Denver, a team that lost in the first round of that Class 2A season grand finale to the eventual champion, top-rated Clear Lake.
Kee’s bid toward its season’s second goal got itself off to another “turn-around” start as the Hawks avenged a first-round district tournament loss to Wapsie Valley last season with a 7-1 first-round triumph at home over the Warriors. The “embarrassing” second-round loss Coach Mauss earlier referred to then brought Kee’s 2016 season to an abrupt end earlier than what most expected, as the Hawks were dispatched by fellow UIC opponent Edgewood-Colesburg by a 19-0 result in just four innings.
Even more surprising than the fact that the Hawks had lost at all to an Edgewood-Colesburg team they had swept earlier in the season by scores of 2-1 and 14-3 in five innings was the manner in which it happened, as that 19-0 loss was one of the largest margins of defeat Kee baseball fans may be able to recall. Providing some consolation to that season-ending loss, however, was the fact that the Vikings that had posted a regular season record of 17-12 were obviously playing their absolute best baseball at just the right time, as they continued their postseason surprises with upset victories over both eighth-rated Jesup and fifth-rated Alburnett to qualify for the Class 1A State Tournament, where, even on that ultimate high school playing stage, Edgewood-Colesburg continued to surprise by playing second-seeded, third-rated and eventual Class 1A State Tournament Runner-Up West Sioux to just a 3-2 loss in the opening round of that season grand finale in Des Moines.
Completion of the 2016 season also brought with it the close to the high school careers of two seniors who provided this season’s most veteran leadership. Ethan Walleser and Logan Flack each played their final games in a Kee baseball uniform as this summer’s campaign came to a close.
“I can’t say enough positive about our two seniors this year,” Coach Mauss commented. “We have no shot of the quick turn-around from 2015 to 2016 without them. These two guys set the tone for us and got Kee High baseball back on the map. They should be forever proud of what they accomplished in those Kee baseball uniforms.”
Walleser led Kee’s pitching staff with a 6-4 record in 12 total appearances that compiled 63-2/3 innings and further team-leading numbers of 44 strike-outs, a team-low 1.98 earned run average (ERA), and an opponent batting average of just .225. “Ethan, whose strengths are pitching and defense, really accepted his role and wanted to pitch in every single game for us and wanted the ball against our toughest competition,” Coach Mauss said. “He led the team in wins and innings, and was our team’s only pitcher to end the year on a high note.”
Logan Flack served as Kee’s lead-off hitter early in the season before suffering a broken thumb midway through the season. Even with that injury, he showed his tenacity by coming back to play with a cast and doing what he could to help the Hawks, especially on the offensive end, where he finished with team-high marks among Kee starters of a .351 batting average and .494 slugging percentage with a team-high two triples and one of the team’s two homeruns this season - junior Clay Olson blasting the other round-tripper.
“Logan was our starting catcher and lead-off batter who led the team in almost every offensive category before he broke his thumb,” Coach Mauss reflected. “We thought his high school career was done until his doctor applied a cast around his wrist and thumb and allowed him to come back. With him basically being one-handed, we moved him from catcher to right field, where he thrived. He also moved from lead-off to fifth or sixth in the line-up and was, arguably, the team’s best hitter.”
Despite Logan Flack showing the most efficiency at the plate, his injury prevented him from the offensive frequency to post team leadership totals, although he still ranged near the team’s top five in many of those other offensive categories. His fellow power-hitting teammate, Olson, ended up as the team’s leader in most of those other offensive statistical categories, including 41 hits, 39 runs scored, 37 runs batted in (RBI), and the team’s only other triple and previously-mentioned homerun. Logan Flack’s younger brother, sophomore Brock Flack, led the Hawks with 12 doubles this season and finished just behind Olson with 38 hits and 32 RBI, with junior Danny Brennan tallying a team runner-up total of 35 runs scored and fellow junior Casey Carroll also finishing within the top three of many of those offensive statistical categories to further fuel the potential for what returns for the Hawks next season.
In addition to Walleser’s team leadership on the mound, the Hawks also had four underclassmen each log 35 or more pitching innings this season. Along with Olson and Brennan being in that mix, sophomore Tucker Colsch and freshman Micah Reinke will also return with considerable mound experience from this past season, along with five others who also logged varsity mound innings for the Hawks along the way this summer.
For their efforts on the field this year, five Hawks received All-Conference honors, with Olson and Carroll pacing those accolades as First Team honorees at infield positions. Brock Flack gained Second Team All-Conference honors as an infielder, and both Walleser and Logan Flack received Honorable Mention All-Conference recognition. Beyond the Upper Iowa Conference, both Olson and Carroll also each received All-District honors, Olson landing on the All Northeast-District First Team as a utility player, and Carroll filling that same role on the All-District Second Team.
With a majority of those postseason award winners all being underclassmen, and many of them also providing team leadership numbers in various statistical categories, the future continues to look bright for even further improvement for the Hawks on the diamond. But, Coach Mauss also know that it takes much more than just the return of honored players and statistical leaders to truly make that improvement.
“Our guys need to hit the weight room, eat healthier, work on baseball outside of the season, and have success in their other sports,” he summarized, looking ahead.
