State baseball: Wayzata’s DeWitt caps return with 4A title – TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

Bobby DeWitt feared he would never get to coach the Wayzata baseball team again.
DeWitt had to step away from coaching for the 2015 season to stay home with his son, Sam, after his wife and his other son, William, had to live in Illinois because of radiation treatment William received for cancer.

But with William now in remission, DeWitt had the opportunity to come back to coaching in 2016. But did they want him back after Wayzata made a section final appearance?

“The baseball community could have basically said, ‘We’re good. Things are going fine,’ ” DeWitt said.

The answer to the former Gophers pitcher was a definite yes, and the season DeWitt turned in affirmed that decision even more.

DeWitt led the No. 1-seeded Trojans to the first state title in program history Monday with an 8-1 victory over No. 3 seed Champlin Park in the Class 4A championship game at Target Field.

DeWitt said he is grateful to the baseball community for allowing him to return, and his players are just as grateful to have him back to lead them to a title.

“It is a really special deal to do this for him,” Will Oberg said

Wayzata kept the Rebels from scoring in the first inning, a key to beating Champlin Park, which scored six-first inning runs in two state tournament games.

“We just wanted to get through those first two innings,” DeWitt said. “If we survived that, we knew we had a good chance from there.”

Combine Wayzata’s strong defense with Kansas State commit Tom Skoro’s pitching, and the Trojans halted the fast-scoring Rebels. Skoro pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts while allowing five hits, striking out the side in the bottom of the second.

Then Champlin Park began to self-destruct.

The Rebels opened the third with two errors and a wild pitch that put runners on second and third.

The next wild pitch brought a Wayzata runner home, and a Will Oberg RBI single gave the Trojans a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.

“Nine walks and six errors doesn’t get you a lot of wins in baseball,” pitcher Aaron Kloeppner said. “When it rained, it poured. We just kept making mistake after mistake.”

Champlin Park responded, however.

Eric Pearson hit an RBI-single in the third that could have been an RBI double if left fielder Griffin Schneider hadn’t thrown out a runner at home to end the inning.

The Rebels pulled pitcher Drew Nelson in the top of the fourth after he allowed two hits and walked Parker Hlavacek.

Replacing Nelson, Kloeppner gave up a run after Schneider hit a ground ball to left. With the bases still loaded, Kloeppner ended the inning without allowing another run.

Wayzata continued to find success against Kloeppner in the fifth.

RBI doubles by Jarett Briol and Danny Deis gave the Trojans a 5-1 lead, and Wayzata added four runs in its final two at-bats.

From winning the 2015 Legion baseball state tournament to the 2016 MSHSL state title, it has been quite a year for the Trojans, who are ecstatic to have DeWitt with them again.

“This is an incredible experience, and we will never forget it the rest of our lives,” Oberg said.

BRIEFLY
All-tournament team: Maple Grove — Isaac Collins; Burnsville — Ryan Brunner; Lakeville North — Michael Dooney and Luke DeGrammont; Woodbury — Max Meyer and Brady Mundahl; Champlin Park — Riley Johnson and Aaron Kloeppner; Wayzata — Griffin Schneider, Will Oberg, Tom Skoro and Parker Hlavacek.