By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
KILJ — “This has been the longest off-season, ever” Iowa Wesleyan head baseball coach Blake Beaber says when approached about the excitement of finally getting back to work this spring.
He, like so many other college baseball coaches here in Iowa, are just ready to play.
The COVID-19 pandemic knocked them out of their schedule last year just a handful of games into the season.
Beaber, a Mount Pleasant alum now in his fourth season at Iowa Wesleyan, is now hoping for marked improvement from his club this season and will be relying on what he calls his deepest rotation since taking over at Wesleyan in 2017.
“We won’t have midweek games this year, which is really going to allow us to have a deeper pen and we’ve got a lot of guys that have thrown the ball well in the fall and believe are going to give us great innings [this Spring].” Beaber said.
One of the arms expected to shoulder the load on the bump this year according to Beaber is Cauy Massner, a Mediapolis graduate and a transfer from Central College.
Of course, the Massner family (Darby and Allie) are well known for their exploits at Iowa Wesleyan and now Cauy will get his chance to shine.
“He’s been really good all fall” Beaber explained. “We thought we were going to get him out of high school, but he went to Central right away. We’re happy to have him now.”
Massner is just one summer season removed from torching the Super Conference to the tune of a 7-0 record with a 3.10 ERA, striking out 60 in 40.2 innings — now he will be tasked with headlining a college rotation this spring.
For Beaber, who’s grown his roster at an incredible rate, it finally feels like a team that can compete in the top half of the conference.
“It’s been a long three years and with last year with COVID, too. We have a really tight group of guys, we’ve recruited and this is the most talented group we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Iowa Wesleyan baseball will begin practice on February 1st.
Their first ball game is set for March 19th at Greenville.
View their full schedule here.
Listen to Beaber’s full interview here: