New coach, same vision for West baseball

Sun Prairie West baseball was the talk of the town in the spring of 2023. The Wolves in their first season of existence were a notorious thorn in the side of rival Sun Prairie East, which spent much of last season ranked in the state and was a No. 1 seed in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state tournament. West beat them in the first-ever meeting between the two and knocked them out in the state tournament to claim a regional title.

This season will look a bit different. The Wolves lost three first team and one honorable mention Big Eight all-conference selections to graduation as well as a few other key starters. Additionally, there was a change made at head coach. Thankfully for the returning Wolves, there is a familiar face taking over the program.

Aaron Buss was a longtime assistant in the original Sun Prairie High School program. He coached most of this current West team as they made their way through the junior varsity ranks as freshmen and sophomores at SPHS. When the job became available, he saw the opportunity to pick up where he left off and continue building on that foundation with the players.

"The kids and I already have a relationship," coach Buss said. "They were already familiar with the expectations I would have for them. Early on, there really haven't been any issues. It's why I was so excited to take this position."

Buss must have done a good job working with these players back in their SPHS junior varsity days, because he inherits a West program with plenty of talent. The one player he didn't get to coach is one of the Wolves' best, junior Casey Wambach.

Wambach made the jump straight to the varsity as a freshman in 2021, earning second team all-conference. He followed that up with an honorable mention nod as a sophomore last season at West.

He was a devastating arm in the pitching rotation, typically serving as the Wolves' closer. He had four saves on the year. Wambach posted an earned run average of 0.95 with 25 strikeouts in only 14.2 innings pitched. Wambach also spent the season as either the leadoff or second batter on offense. He posted a batting average of .355 which included 18 runs scored and 21 RBIs. He also nabbed 10 stolen bases.

Pitching will be an undeniable strength for West this spring. In addition to Wambach, the Wolves have a stellar senior quartet of arms in Ben Ketelsen, Brady Rhoads, Jacob Holland, and Austin Adamowski.

Ketelsen returns with some all-conference honors of his own, earning an honorable mention nod from the Big Eight last season. He threw 37 innings for West and allowed only 10 earned runs for a stout 1.892 earned run average. He struck out 23 batters and posted a 4-1 record.

Rhoads threw the most innings on the team last season at 38.1. He went 3-1 overall and also came in to record a save. He has the most retuning strikeouts on the team with 32 and only walked 12 batters last spring.

Adamoswki was a relief pitcher for a deep staff last season. He did not start a game but came in to pitch 16.2 innings in 11 appearances. He recorded a pair of saves and struck out 10 batters in his time on the mound.

Holland saw limited action last spring with only 10.1 innings pitched. Coach Buss referenced him by name, though, citing his ability to throw hard and bear a big workload from his junior varsity days. He only allowed six hits during his time on the mound last season and struck out 10.

As for the offense, plenty of new faces will need to step up. Outside of Wambach, five of the top six Wolves in terms of plate appearances have graduated. Rhoads and Ketelsen are next-highest with 68 and 62 plate appearances last season, respectively. Rhoads posted a batting average of .274 with 17 hits (including four doubles) for nine RBIs and nine runs scored. Ketelsen had a .149 batting average and came in to score 10 times.

Two more seniors, Reece Perry and Bennett Pederson, bring some added experience to the varsity. They combined for 12 hits, 10 RBIs, and nine runs scored in limited action behind a senior-heavy starting lineup.

Coach Buss also expects a pair of sophomores to step up as important contributors this spring. Caden Cook will be part of West's deep pitching rotation and also showed some capabilities at first base. Evan Voss has shown too much hand/eye coordination with his bat to keep him out of the lineup.

West's new season starts with back-to-back home scrimmages against Beloit Memorial on Thursday, March 28 and Friday, March 29. The regular season kicks off the following week as the Wolves welcome in Big Eight conference opponent Janesville Parker on Tuesday, April 2.