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What is the secret of Lynx baseball? Pitching, pitching and more pitching

In Olson, WCHS possesses top arm in NCC as it looks to win third league title in four years

Tyler Olson went 11-1 with a 0.68 ERA and 102 strikeouts on the mound en route to a Class 3A first-team all-state honor as a sophomore a season ago. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning

WEBSTER CITY — When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, high school baseball is a fairly easy game. The team with the better pitching usually wins.

And over the last three seasons, no North Central Conference program has been able to match Webster City’s prowess on the mound. It’s why the Lynx won the league crown in 2017, why they finished a game out of repeating in 2018 despite underachieving somewhat, and why they rebounded to win title No. 2 in a three-year span a season ago.

To beat the Lynx, you better be able to out-pitch them. And in 2020, with the usual 14-game conference schedule reduced to a seven-game slate due to the late start because of the coronavirus pandemic, that’s not going to be easy.

Why? Because WCHS has Tyler Olson, and you better believe he’ll be on the mound against NCC opponents whenever possible.

“Tyler will be our go-to guy for the majority of the year,” WCHS head coach Adison Kehoe stated, which should be a surprise to absolutely no one. “He wants the ball anytime he can get it on the mound.”

As a sophomore a season ago, Olson was one of the premier Class 3A pitchers. An 11-1 record, 0.68 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 712⁄3 innings earned him a first-team all-state accolade. He went 7-1 with a 0.73 ERA in league play and was unquestionably the most dominant hurler inside the NCC.

What does he have in store for an encore? If it’s anything close to his performance last summer, well, good luck.

“His (velocity) was somewhere in the high 70s last year and that could be for 100 pitches,” Kehoe said. “He’s sitting in the low 80s right now, and now he feels pretty confident that he can throw his curveball in any count. But the pitch that’s really caught my eye is his change-up … it’s pretty. It’s got a nice four- to six-inch drop on it. It starts in the strike zone and then it just disappears.”

Olson, now a junior, will be the face of a Lynx team that is expected to contend for top honors in the NCC once again. He can hit — his .384 batting average a season ago proved that — and when he’s not on the mound he’s a high-caliber shortstop.

But WCHS isn’t a one-man show, far from it, in fact. The Lynx return eight players with starting experience, none of whom are seniors. Add it all up, and Kehoe is comfortable saying that his club will be a contender not just this season, but for several seasons to come.

“The boys are focused, they’re excited and they’re ready to go,” Kehoe said in the lead-up to Monday’s season opener at Hampton-Dumont/CAL. “If the boys play to their potential, I think they’ll always put themselves in the best situation to be successful at the end. I know they want another (conference) title, that’s always our ultimate goal.”

There will be some gaps to fill, however. Dylan Steen is gone and he took his .495 batting average and upper-80s fastball with him. Caleb Olson will be back in uniform, but this season as an assistant coach rather than an all-conference outfielder who drove in a team-high 35 runs last summer.

Finding a No. 2 pitcher behind Olson will be a priority, and with the shortened preseason and one-month regular season, Kehoe says it might be a committee approach. Beau Klaver and Zach Dyvig both started two games on the bump in 2019. Ty McKinney will get some work, as will newcomers to the team Chase Rattenborg and Trey Shannon. Trey Lyons could also provide some innings when needed.

“All of those guys have really shown me that they’re more than willing and capable of throwing strikes,” Kehoe said. “At the varsity level, that’s what you need.”

Sean Carver also returns to give the Lynx offense an explosive bat. He always seemed to come through in the clutch last summer, while McKinney and CJ Hisler also proved they belonged while starting as eighth graders. Klaver, returning starting catcher Devon Stoakes, and Connor Hansen all filled roles as well.

Carver and Hisler hit .338 and .317, respectively, a season ago.

Kehoe sees an athletic team, one that will apply pressure to opposing defenses with its speed.

“This team, right now, is probably the most athletic team I’ve coached since I’ve been at Webster City,” Kehoe, who is in his fourth year at the helm, said. “I don’t think I’ve had a faster team. We’re not a team that’s going to rely on home runs, but I’ve left practice every day saying we’ve got guys that can put the ball in play and put the ball in play hard. I’ve got kids that can hit the gap and go from first to third in a blink.”

Several other NCC programs will certainly have a say in how it all shakes out come the middle of July.

Humboldt has long given WCHS fits, and the Wildcats return a solid core that includes talented pitchers Jacob Thurm and Cade Witzke, who combined to go 10-4 last season. Humboldt beat WCHS once a season ago and had the Lynx on the ropes in a postseason clash before Kehoe’s squad rallied late to prevail.

Clear Lake returns six of its top nine hitters, not to mention several very capable arms. Algona will be a tough out; the same can be said about Hampton-Dumont/CAL.

Kehoe says the early portion of the Lynx schedule may work like a game of chess. WCHS plays Hampton-Dumont/CAL, Algona and Humboldt in June, but all three are non-conference contests. The same opponents will come around again in July where the outcomes will count towards the conference standings.

“Tyler is obviously going to get his innings (on the mound), but how much do you show that first time when it doesn’t count for the conference record?” Kehoe wondered out loud. “That’s something we’re going to have to figure out.”

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