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Five Luverne seniors led 'really dangerous' varsity baseball team

Lead Summary
By
Brennen Rupp

The Luverne baseball team finished doorsteps away from reaching the 2021 state tournament.
The Cardinals finished the season with a 20-5 record and fell one game shy of reaching the section championship game.
“If we could have played a little better defense, we could have been really, really dangerous,” longtime Luverne baseball coach Mike Wenninger said.
“It was pretty solid all year. Our hitting was phenomenal. We had a great team batting average (.369). Our defense was our old Achilles heel.”
The Cardinals were led this season by a group of five seniors that included Bailey Cowell, Cade Wenninger, Ethan Beyer, Trevor Halverson and Riley Anderson.
After not having a season in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Cardinals were unsure of what to expect in the 2021 season. The one thing they were sure of is they had a group of upperclassmen that had plenty of experience playing together on the diamond.
“Back in their junior legion tournament, they made it to the junior legion state tournament and made a little run there,” Wenninger said. “So you knew that they were good players and had good coaching.”
At the beginning of the season that experienced group did a great job of leading the way as the Cardinals waded into uncharted waters.
“With COVID-19, our seniors were still playing like juniors and our juniors were still playing like sophomores,” Wenninger said.
“They missed a lot of structure. They got to play summer baseball, which is great, but it’s not that daily structure. They missed a full year of that. The seniors did a great job of settling us in. They’re just people that you can count on.”
Out of the five seniors, two of them will be playing baseball at the collegiate level.
Beyer will be playing at Concordia-Moorhead and Wenninger will be playing at Briar Cliff in Sioux City, Iowa.
“Between Cade and Ethan, I would call them the left- and right-handed versions of one another,” Wenninger said.
“Cade’s left-handed and Ethan’s right-handed. Both are very intelligent baseball players. They’re both willing to give up anything to play. They both can play multiple positions. They don’t miss signs. They’re both great contact hitters. They can both pitch. They both logged in over 30 innings on the mound. They’re very accountable and dependable kids.”
Cowell will be playing football at Minnesota West. Wenninger said that if Cowell wanted to, he could play baseball at the next level.
“He may try some baseball when he’s there,” Wenninger said.
“He’s always been an infielder his entire life. This year we needed to solidify the outfield defense. We wanted to have one guy that could add some stability out there. He’s naturally quick and a naturally gifted athlete. That was a big help for us to have him in center field. He’s a great leadoff hitter. If he got on base for us, there was a high chance he was going to be scoring. He was a great leadoff hitter and center fielder for us.”
The departures of the five seniors will be a tough blow for the Cardinals, but they’ll return a strong core of players that includes Casey Sehr, Connor Connell, Braydon Ripka, Connor Overgaard, Luke Bosch, Kaden Anderson and Trygve Gangestad.
The Cardinals figure to be players in the Big South Conference again in 2022. The sustained success that they’ve been able to attain is a testament to the program that Wenninger and his staff have built.
“Our baseball association has done such a wonderful job with our youth,” Wenninger said.
“They really emphasize playing in house and playing in Luverne. We’re not trying to make each kid a year-round baseball player, but when it’s baseball season they’re playing baseball and getting a lot of great opportunities.”

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