Meet Cooper Wierson, the do-it-all sophomore for Collins-Maxwell baseball

Cooper Wierson has been asked to do a lot during his sophomore season with the Collins-Maxwell baseball team.

During his first two seasons, Wierson played alongside a talented group of veterans who helped take Collins-Maxwell from a one-win team in its inaugural season to back-to-back winning campaigns in 2022 and 2023.

Collins-Maxwell went 12-8 the year before Wierson joined the team, 12-10 when he was an eighth-grader in 2022 and 16-8 last season. During his freshman year, the Spartans won the Iowa Star Conference South Division for the first time.

Now as a sophomore, he has been counted on to help lift a team that lost its core of seniors in Caleb Dvorak, Jace Huntrods, Luke Huntrods, Blake Huntrods and Caden Hasbrouck.

Through the Spartans' first 20 games of 2024, Wierson has not disappointed.

“He kind of just does it all,” said Collins-Maxwell coach Curtis Fisher. “He’s a big reason for us being successful.”

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Fisher is in his first season as head coach at Collins-Maxwell. The Spartans have taken a predictable dip after losing last year's talented senior class, but they have not fallen that far off.

Wierson is a big reason why.

“Any time you’re able to throw a guy like Cooper on the mound, you’ve got a chance to be pretty successful,” Fisher said. “It makes my job easier just knowing that he’s going to do some nice things for us.”

Pitching is Wierson's biggest strength. It also makes him one of the most valuable players in the entire ISC.

As an eighth-grader, he was 0-2 in 15 1/3 innings of work. But last year he solidified himself as one of the top pitchers in the conference.

Wierson went 6-1 with a 1.42 ERA as a freshman. He had 50 strikeouts against 15 walks in 44 1/3 innings.

With those numbers, Wierson had earned the trust and admiration of his teammates heading into 2024.

“It gave me a lot of confidence coming into this year,” Wierson said. “We were going to be missing a lot of people, so it was going to be new people coming into positions and I had to learn to trust my pitches throughout the year and trust my teammates.”

Even though his supporting cast is not as strong as it was a season ago, Wierson is still putting up huge numbers on the mound. Through the end of June, Wierson was 6-3 with a 2.21 ERA and 63 strikeouts against 18 walks in 44 1/3 innings.

He started a little slow but started to pick it up in June. During the month he led Collins-Maxwell to 11-1 victories over Clarkesville and GMG, and a 3-1 triumph over top rival Baxter.

“My control is a lot better now,” Wierson said. “I was struggling with my control at the start of the year, then I found it toward the end. That’s really nice to have.”

Wierson overpowers opposing batters with his fastball and slider. He is working to add some more pitches into the mix to keep hitters even more off-balance.

“I’m trying to get a changeup, but I can’t get under control,” Wierson said. “It’s hard to throw and I struggle with it. But if I can get my changeup to work, that’s something I can have for a left-handed hitter.”

It helps that he has great chemistry with Collins-Maxwell catcher Austin Boege.

“I’ve learned to know what he wants to throw and how he throws it,” Boege said. “I like catching Cooper. He throws strikes and he’s a good pitcher.”

Wierson also thrives on the pressure and responsibility that comes with being a pitcher.

“It’s fun going out there and competing,” Wierson said. “You’re the reason your team wins, and the reason your team loses. I like to go out there and compete against the best teams I can.”

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But pitching is not the only thing Wierson does well on the diamond.

When he is not on the mound, he plays shortstop, arguably the most valuable position for a defender to play. Through 20 games he has recorded 42 assists and 35 putouts.

On offense, he is hitting .333 and leads Collins-Maxwell in walks (14) and on-base percentage (.481) while batting from the leadoff spot.

“It’s fun to (bat) leadoff,” Wierson said. “I get to start the game off how I want to start it off. Work the pitcher, get him eight-plus pitches, find a way on, steal second and then my teammates bring me in.”

Wierson leads Collins-Maxwell in runs scored (22) and steals (18). He has tallied five doubles, two triples and nine RBIs as well.

“He’s helping our team in all areas,” said Collins-Maxwell junior infielder Josef Dvorak. “It makes the job easier for all of us to have him around.”

Dvorak said Wierson always brings good energy to the dugout and the field.

“He gets the whole team moving,” Dvorak said. “He gets us going and just helps the whole team improve.”

Collins-Maxwell stood at 8-12 overall and 8-7 in the ISC South through a 12-3 loss to Don Bosco on June 24. The Spartans will open Class 1A District 14 play this Saturday at Earlham.

Wierson wants to see the Spartans turn some heads in the postseason.

“I want to make a big run in the playoffs,” Wierson said. “That’d be really nice.”

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Meet Cooper Wierson, the do-it-all sophomore for Collins-Maxwell baseball