Westside’s baseball season came to an end in the first round of the A-2 districts losing to Lincoln Southwest 9-1. The Warriors finished their season with a disappointing 11-16 record including some marquee wins over Millard West and Lincoln East, but also a couple of tough losses including three long losing streaks.
Westside started the season strong with a shutout of the Wildcats holding them to no runs. Managing to muster a run to start the season with a win, afterwards it was four straight one run losses, including a couple that went into extra innings that the Warriors couldn’t finish. Westside got back on track with two shutout wins going into the toughest part of their schedule in which they had another one run loss to rival Creighton Prep and a 10-0 loss to Millard South in which they got no hits.
Then they went and beat the number one Lincoln East Spartans before splitting their next ten games going on both a three game win and loss streak. The Warriors had another three game losing streak including a tough loss in extras to Millard North but ended the regular season strong with a senior night win against Lincoln North Star and a final road win against Westview. Westside’s postseason run was short as they lost to Lincoln Southwest in a game that was competitive through the first five innings until the Silverhawks pulled away.
“I had high expectations coming into this season.” Senior Tre Savoie said “So it was a bummer of how the season played out but it was a good squad to play with.”
This was Westside’s one and only season under interim head coach Kevin Koch as next year starting in the summer Bellevue West coach Jason Shocky will come over to the Warriors and be their full time head coach. Along with a new skipper, Westside will lose 11 seniors mainly in the pitching department, which was the best part of the team.
Westside’s pitching staff only allowed five runs a game with five shutouts over the season as well. Five out of the 11 seniors that are leaving are big pitchers that contributed a good amount to the season and many will continue baseball at the next level at division two school or junior college baseball.
The main issue for the Warriors was their lackluster offense. Westside put up a tad over four runs a game but many losses mainly in the beginning of the season were by one run which the first five games of the season were decided by one run where they went 1-4 in that stretch. The pitching staff was led by Sophomore Markus Chandler who had a 1.78 ERA, Seniors Reid Beberniss, Anthony Barone who had solid senior seasons and Freshman Kai Fredrick who has a 1.35 ERA and was the main closer for the Warriors.
On the offensive side nobody hit over .300 on the season but the Warriors will have some key offensive pieces return for next season such Braeden Hosey, Burke Brown, Chandler and others that should improve come next season. Along with the returning talent the Warrior Junior Varsity team had themselves a great season going 21-5.
There is a lot of talent on that team that played solid Varsity innings and many more can get their opportunity next season. Overall for the expectations it was a disappointing season for the Warriors but there is a lot of potential for the seasons to come with some big returns to the roster next season along with a brand new head coach next season could be the breakout season for the warriors and it could be the first time they make it to the state tournament since 2021.
