By Blake Chadwick
Ellsworth High School baseball head coach Jason McWilliams has been coaching for 13 years, starting at Ellsworth in 2018 and taking over as head coach in 2019.
Being around baseball his whole life, McWilliams credits his grandfather as the one who helped him first fall in love.
“I remember watching baseball with my Grandad,” McWilliams said. “I was fortunate enough to watch the great Nolan Ryan. It was hard not to fall in love after watching him pitch. Baseball took hold, and the fire was lit.”
McWilliams knows a lot about adapting his coaching styles to the teams he has and knew that this year, with eight seniors, he could coach a little differently.
“The mindset and philosophy is to be more aggressive offensively, and we have to play solid defense behind the guy on the bump,” McWilliams said. “We coach to play each game like we are playing the best team on our schedule. We put ourselves in pressured situations so that when it arrives, our response is a reaction.”
Ellsworth is led by senior pitcher Cole Webber, senior pitcher Lane Rolfs, and senior shortstop Will Cravens, with juniors Gavin Moyer and Dax Leiker also being key additions and surprises for coach McWilliams.
Before going to state, McWilliams mentioned how good the team would have to play defensively.
“In order to make a deep playoff run this year, we have to play our best baseball,” McWilliams said. “It starts on the bump. We have to have solid outings by not just our ace, but our 2,3 and 4 pitchers. We must also play solid defense behind them and continue to see and hit the ball well.”
