An Interview with Head Baseball Coach Jared Wacker
Q. Last year you had three All-Conference players. With what appears to be a young team this year, who do you see as the potential standouts going into this season?
A. I really like our group on the mound this year. We have several key returners from last year's team, as well as getting some impact arms back from injury. We also have some very talented and competitive freshmen with great potential. Sophomores Gavin Micklinghoff was 7-1 for us last spring and Joey Wizceb was 6-1 and made some big starts in the playoffs. Dylan Petrey (Indiana State commit) leads our team in innings in 2022 and missed last year with an injury. He's back healthy and will be a big rotation piece for us. Dom Guzman (Gardner-Webb commit) is now two years removed from Tommy John and has been throwing the ball really well. Max Bianchini and Nathan Chapman will be playing their first year with us after missing last year with an injury and have the talent to really impact our staff. Lleyton Grubich, Caden Vogt, and Ryan Skwarek were three of the area's top high school pitchers last spring and they should all help us right away. Dimitri Bourmas is also a hard-throwing freshman with potential impact stuff.
We will be young offensively this year but sophomore 3B Blake Stempowski and C Noah Goddard have really taken that next step in their development. Freshmen OF Owen Nowak should be a spark for us at the top of our lineup. I'm really excited to see which players really step up and take spots at the beginning of the year. We've got a lot of talented athletes who should be fun to watch.
Q. Last year you had a great record of 45-12. What carries over from last year that can contribute to continuing success this season?
I think it always helps to have experience on the mound. Guys who have pitched in big games and tight spots. We're fortunate to have that. We have freshmen as well who have pitched in the state tournament and helped lead their teams to conference championships at the high school level. Every season is different though. We stress that each year in the fall. This is my 13th team as the head coach. Each team is unique in so many ways and just because we've been successful doesn't mean we're guaranteed anything. I expect this team to rely more on pitching and defense than maybe the past few years, which isn't a bad thing at all. Part of the fun in coaching is watching a team develop their identity each year and I'm especially looking forward to watching that take shape with this group.
Q. When meeting your team, they seem to be a great group of young players who already have great chemistry. Chemistry can play a role in a team's success, especially when adversity strikes a team. Who are some of the leaders of that team that seem to contribute to the chemistry of this team?
Blake Stempowski and Mark DeCicco represent our team on the Student-Athlete Council here at MCC, which is a group of our student-athletes who meet to train and discuss leadership. They have been essential to the team and both lead in different ways. Sophomore pitcher Hunter Enloe is a terrific role model for our younger pitchers because of his work ethic and selfless commitment to the program. The group genuinely likes each other and gets along. You don't see guys click up at practice. That will help us through the ups and downs of a college season and when we face adversity.
Q: Having coached for years at this level you know the weather plays such a role in how a "spring" sport starts during a season. Baseball is a sport where players like a routine, how do you overcome the inconvenience of rainouts and rain delays? What do you do to keep them prepared for such volatile weather?
I don't know that you ever really get used to it. I've done this a long time and still get frustrated with it. I would say the biggest things we try to do are to focus on the things we can control, which isn't the weather for sure, and then just get used to being comfortable being uncomfortable. Baseball players are very routine-oriented, which we work on and stress, however, you can't be married to it so much that it controls who you are and how you perform. You have to be able to adapt and overcome situations that aren't ideal.
Q: As a coach in community college baseball, how much does the ability to communicate with a catcher during a game help a young pitching staff? At the highest level or even at high school level there is not the ability to communicate via an earpiece, as you are able to do. When I first noticed it, I was amazed at how signals got from the dugout to the catcher and how it kept the flow of the game on pace. Can you illuminate how that helps a coaching staff, or pitching staff?
Last spring, we implemented one-way radio communication with our catchers and it's been really nice. We use a walkie-talkie and an earpiece on our catchers. It's quickened up the pace in between pitches and it's also had some additional benefits in terms of handling situations behind the plate and getting feedback from catchers. For example, we can get a better feel from our catchers on a batter's placement in the box or ask how a breaking ball looks from a pitcher and he'll just give us a thumbs up or down. It's allowed us to get more information to the leader of our defense and it's been very helpful.
Q: We all are looking forward to a great season of baseball, and hopefully good weather, what is the one thing that you do to sustain such a successful team? And what are the goals of this season?
We've been fortunate to recruit and have really good players who work hard and want to get better. That's been a driving force in our sustained success. Our goals each year are to get better every day and compete for championships. Starting in the fall we try to get 1% better every day, and that compounds throughout the course of the year. Guys can really change themselves as players and people during that time if they commit to that process.
