By Blake Chadwick
Fresh off of a regional championship and an 18-6 record the season before, Sedgwick comes into the 2024 season as a Class 2-1A favorite to win their second state championship and first since 2021.
Head coach Doug Mabry enters his 16th year as the coach at Sedgwick with a 220-69 record.
The Cardinals return six starters and ten total lettermen in all Heart of America first teamers senior outfielder Jeff Nold, senior pitcher and infielder Sterling Lies, senior pitcher Jackson Scarlett, junior pitcher and infielder Corey Crumrine, sophomore catcher Owen Luper and honorable mention junior outfielder Braeden Briggs.
The strength of the team starts with their pitching, as they return over 80 percent of it, led by Crumrine. Despite coming into the season with a team that is very talented, one of the very few concerns for Mabry is offensively.
“I believe that this team will be competitive every night,” Mabry said. “Our goal is to improve every day and play like a veteran team by the end of the season. Offensive consistency was an issue last season and is an area in which we would like to improve. We need to get production from all parts of the lineup.”
That being said, the team will definitely be challenged night in and night out.
“This should be a very competitive league, as the teams seem fairly evenly matched,” Mabry said. “Based on returning talent, Marion and Inman are expected to be near the top of the standings.”
Mabry expects the class 2-1A field to be very competitive as well.
“The smallest classification for baseball has no shortage of talented teams,” Mabry said. “Returning champion St. Mary’s-Colgan (Pittsburg) is a perennial favorite, Elkhart has consistently put very good teams on the field, and more locally, Little River and Marion will be among the favorites.”
