Summer baseball preview: Loaded with talent, West Bend West is poised for big season
With four Division I recruits, there's at least one person who feels the West Bend West summer baseball team should go undefeated this season: the father-in-law of Spartans' coach Bill Albrecht.
“He thinks we have to be 35-0 or the coach is a failure,” said a laughing Albrecht. “That's a lot of pressure on 17-year-old kids to not lose any games when you play the caliber of teams we play. Our first goal is to try to defend our (North Shore) conference championship for the third year in a row. If we can win the conference title, then you know you've been solid all year.
“Baseball, you can lose a game any time. We can't get too carried away with how many wins and losses, we've just got to focus on the now and let that take care of itself. But I'm sure they all feel the pressure of: 'Ah man, four DI guys. We've got to win.’ That's an added pressure, but that's a good pressure. There wouldn't be any pressure if we weren't any good.”
West is all kinds of good, as the team features three fourth-year varsity starters in Nathan Burns (No. 1 ranked Oregon State), Anthony Schlass (No. 23 Oklahoma), Jack Thelen (UW-Milwaukee), and junior Evan Albrecht (Purdue) is a three-year starter.
“Four DI guys on a team? That's pretty impressive,” Schlass said.
But that’s not all.
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West's coach says as many as four more of his players will be competing at the college level next season.
“It's an anomaly that you get four at once, and then you have another handful that have aspirations to play college at some level,” Albrecht said. “But to have four Division I kids on one team – and they grew up playing ball together, too, right in West Bend. It's not like they moved into the district or anything like that – makes things easier as a coach when you have that kind of talent.”
Albrecht has been making it look easy for years.
On Wednesday, he began his 17th season at West owning a 396-106 record, and his Spartans have reached the state championship game four times in the last 10 years. They are already 3-0 this year and he can become the 18th summer coach in Wisconsin to have 400 wins with a victory over South Milwaukee on Saturday.
Last year, the team was 27-4, which included a school-record 23-game winning streak, before losing to eventual state champion Menomonee Falls in the playoffs.
“Baseball is a game of failure, that's evident,” Schlass said. “We don't concern ourselves with the wins and losses during the season. The only time a loss really affects us, obviously, is in the postseason.”
Burns, a pitcher and third baseman, is even projected to be selected around the 20th round of the Major League Baseball draft in June. He throws as fast as 91-92 mph.
“No matter what happens, it's a win-win situation,” Burns said. “I'm either going to be going into a professional organization with the best development in the world, or I'm going to such a great university in Oregon State. Either way, the situation is going to work out for me.”
Schlass is a second baseman and pitcher who has a mix of speed and power and an all-around excellent left-handed hitter, says his coach.
Albrecht, the coach’s nephew, is a shortstop who is a disruptive force on offense – he was 25 for 25 in stolen base attempts last year – and also is outstanding on defense.
And Thelen is one of the best catchers Albrecht has seen. His hitting has also improved, as he collected three hits (including two doubles off the wall) in a season-opening victory over New Holstein.
Yes, four Division I recruits plus at least four more who also will play in college next year.
Good luck, opponents.
“It's kind of difficult to describe because I've been playing with all these guys my whole life,” Burns said. “So nothing really feels any different. It is pretty cool to have the talent that we do, but it is just a normal game or a normal team to me because I've been playing with these guys for years now.”