Revamped Cardinals set sights high

The spring of 2023 bore mixed results for the Sun Prairie East baseball program. The Cardinals were regarded as the best program in the state of Wisconsin with the trophies to back that assertion up prior to the split of Sun Prairie High School. They had to earn that respect back as they began their first season as East unranked.

The state quickly realized its mistake in underestimating East. The Cardinals won their first 12 games, including non-conference wins over state-ranked Monona Grove as well as defending Division 1 state champion Milton. East bumped up into the state’s top-10 for Division 1 and rode that wave to a 15-5 finish in the Big Eight, finishing in second only behind champion Janesville Craig.

The end of the regular season is where the trouble began. East entered the 2023 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) state tournament as the No. 1 seed in Sectional 3. There, the Cardinals did not win a game as No. 8 seed and rival Sun Prairie West knocked them off in a 9-8 thriller.

“It was a disappointing finish,” Sun Prairie East head coach Jack Marchese said. “You tip your hat to West, but we just have to be better. We have a goal of finishing this season. We’ve done a lot of character building in the offseason with that in mind. We’re excited to get back to it. The guys are practicing with a chip on their shoulders. There isn’t a whole lot of messing around. They’re focused.”

Much of that 2023 squad was built on the shoulders of sophomores and juniors. It will be difficult to replace the now-graduated senior leadership in the pitching rotation, namely honorable mention all-state selection Zach Brzezinski. Still, the pieces remain for the Cardinals to achieve similar heights in this new season, and then some.

The main core for the Cardinals consists of a trio of returning honorable mention all-district seniors: Drew Kavanaugh, John Hadley VI, and Sam Ostrenga. All three were also first team all-conference selections by the Big Eight.

Ostrenga has been the team’s starting center fielder and leadoff batter since he was a sophomore. That experience showed up last season as he led the team in batting average with a .455 thanks to his team-high 35 hits. Five of those connections were doubles and another one was a triple. He led the team in runs scored with 35 and knocked around 19 RBIs, to boot. His exceptional speed also makes him a robbery threat defensively.

Kavanaugh doubles as one of the best arms in the pitching rotation as well as a reliable bat. On the mound, he pitched the second-most innings on the team last spring with 50. He picked up an 8-2 record in his 10 appearances thanks to his earned run average of 1.680. He also led the team in total strikeouts with 52. Offensively, he was a singles machine with 31, paired with a trio of doubles to bring his hit total to 34. This led him to a batting average of .430. Kavanaugh knocked around 24 RBIs and came in to score 15 times.

Hadley VI burst onto the scene last season after playing junior varsity the season prior. He dominated in such a way last spring that he earned and accepted a scholarship to play Division 1 baseball at UW-Milwaukee following graduation. He carried perhaps the most devastating bat in the lineup last season as he led the team in homeruns with three and also tacked on four doubles and three triples. This lended itself to a team-high slugging percentage of .583. Hadley VI knocked around 21 RBIs and came in to score 29 times.

Joining these three on the list of Cardinals with postseason honors are senior Isaac Wendler and junior Max Glusick.

Glusick was another first team all-conference selection just like Ostrenga, Kavanaugh, and Hadley VI, barely missing out on honorable mention all-district recognition. He stepped in from the outfield to serve as the team’s shortstop as only a sophomore last season and was exquisite. He led the team in assisted putouts with 47 and committed only four errors for the entirety of the season. Glusick had some pop at the plate, too, as he launched six were doubles, two triples, and homerun among his 30 total hits. Glusick posted a batting average of .345, drove in a team-high 26 RBIs, and came in to score himself 24 times.

Wendler occupied the hot corner of third base for East last spring. At the plate, he was a savant at putting himself in a position to score. His .391 batting average and .505 on-base percentage led him to lead the team in runs scored with 30. He also led the way in drawn walks with 18. Additionally, Wendler brought in 19 RBIs thanks to 27 hits on the year.

East will also benefit from another familiar face out in right field, senior Luke Damm. He separated himself as a difference maker later in the season after a brief battle for the position. He finished 2023 with a .327 batting average thanks to 16 hits. He came in to score 15 times and drove in nine RBIs of his own.

The Cardinals also benefit from some much-needed experience in the pitching rotation courtesy of sophomore Brady Stelzer. He pitched 19 innings as a freshman last season. He allowed 15 hits and 13 earned runs for an earned run average of 4.789.

East’s level of returning experience was also by a pair of opt-outs. Junior Cooper White was the team’s go-to pinch runner last spring. He opted to focus on track & field as his star continues to rise in football. Fellow junior Trystan Fry is also putting his focus elsewhere after playing two seasons of varsity baseball for the Cardinals.

The roster remains deep with talent coach Marchese is confident is ready to step up, though. Juniors Gavin Meece and Reed Saugstad as well as sophomore Joey Tamboli figure to be an integral pieces of the pithing rotation. Senior Joe Jacobs and sophomore Van Vogler will battle it out to fill in at second base. Sophomore Manny Abreu and junior Collin Cunningham are duking it out to be the team’s catcher. Upperclassmen like seniors Tyler Drogue, Grant Camp, Joe Andrew, and Ben Gleiter and junior Alex Klun have stepped up as integral leaders and “glue guys.”

“They’ve all impressed,” coach Marchese said. “It’s plain to see they’re tough guys that won’t back down. We have some depth that we’re very confident in.”

Sun Prairie East’s path towards redemption will begin at home as it hosts Appleton West for its season opener on Monday, April 1. This kicks off an ultra-challenging opening week for the Cardinals.

They proceed to play their season series with defending Big Eight champion Janesville Craig, first on the road on Tuesday, April 2 then at home on Thursday, April 4. As if that wasn’t enough, they’ll pay a visit to state-ranked Monona Grove on Friday, April 5.