Waukon baseball team lays some foundational groundwork in its 2025 season result of 11-16 with just one senior on the roster, none in its starting line-up
The 2025 Waukon baseball season saw an overall young squad continue to find its way down the path of success, as a team without a senior in its day-to-day line-up and with a vast majority of its game roster being sophomores or younger played its way to an 11-16 season record and a mark of 7-9 in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play that placed them third in the final five-team NEIC standings. Still, after having to replace a majority of last summer’s line-up that included five graduated seniors, and recording his lowest win total in five seasons, seventh-year Waukon baseball coach Shane Schellsmidt made note of continued growth by his squad that set a foundation for the building of future success.
“From outside the field of play, this kind of season might look difficult, but from within, it was filled with valuable experiences and meaningful development,” Coach Schellsmidt reasoned. “The lessons learned this year are already laying the groundwork for future success. With a young core gaining confidence and experience, we believe the program is headed in a very positive direction. We’re excited to see where this group will be when we step back on the field next summer.”
One of those areas of continued growth and development was in the defensive aspect of play, where an average approaching three errors per game in recent seasons was trimmed more than in half this season at just over one miscue per contest, including last season’s 70 errors being cut directly in half to just 35 for this summer’s campaign. The junior starting line-up trio of pitcher/center fielder Colton O’Neill, first baseman Zach Perkins and left fielder Jacob Jones each completed this season without an error to pace that less flawed result. That cleaner defensive effort allowed for fewer opportunities gifted to opposing offenses and ultimately put the young diamond Tribe in position to set a new defensive standard for not just the recent era, but for the entirety of the Waukon baseball program.
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