Baseball: These Litchfield Dragons are dormant no more
· Yahoo Sports
May 15—LITCHFIELD — The
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had five sophomores getting significant playing time two seasons ago.
Sporting such a young team, the Dragons took their lumps. Litchfield went 4-17 in 2024 and 7-16 in '25.
It was a tough start for those then-sophomores: Alex Medina, Tripp McCann, Gideon Boerema, Beau Schultz and Jordan Abbott.
"We tried to impress on them two years ago that there's going to be some growing pains here," said Dragons head coach Jeff Wollin. "We only had two seniors that year (in '24) and several of our sophomores probably should have been playing JV that year. ... In our conference and our section, it's tough to win with a lot of sophomores in the lineup."
Now seniors, this flight of Dragons has helped their squad take off.
Heading into Friday, Litchfield sports a 15-5 record and is ranked 10th in the Class AA state poll by the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association.
The Dragons resumed a doubleheader with Annandale on Friday after play was suspended Thursday due to lightning. Litchfield hopes to clinch a top-two seed in Section 5AA by winning its regular-season finale Monday at Eden Valley-Watkins.
"It really helped just us five being there because we built as a group," said Schultz, who pitches and plays shortstop. "Each year, we kept taking that into the next year and the next year. Finally, our senior year, us five have three years of experience and ... that's helped us grow as a team."
Litchfield's offense has had a substantial turnaround. The Dragon average 8.7 runs per game. They averaged 5.0 runs in '25 and 3.9 in '24. Medina, the lead-off hitter and center fielder, leads the state with 31 runs scored, according to
.
Litchfield has scored double-digit runs in eight games and is 7-1 in those contests.
"It's really just going up there (and) first-pitch hacking," McCann said. The catcher leads the Dragons with a .433 batting average through 20 games. "Be aggressive, just find your pitch and drive it. With that, you have to be patient and find your pitch. We got a ton of walks this year.
"Getting their starter out early and going through their bullpen, that's been pretty good for us this year."
That plate patience was showcased in the Dragons' 12-4 win over Norwood Young America on April 20. The game was tied 4-4 through nine innings before Litchfield scored eight runs in the top of the 10th.
"They didn't have any pitchers left and boom, we went to town because we got their best pitcher out," Schultz said. "I think half of our order batted twice. We were not ready for that. It was awesome because we knew it was never enough. As easily as we can get eight runs, they can do the same thing."
The Dragons also feature two pitchers with sub-2.00 ERAs. Leading the way is Boerema with a 4-2 record and 1.69 ERA with 45 strikeouts over 37-1/3 innings. Schultz is 4-1 with a 1.96 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 25 innings. Tyler Eichner has 22 strikeouts over 20-2/3 innings and Abbott has 20 strikeouts over 24 innings.
"We had a lot of pitching coming in and it was a matter of figuring out those two or three guys that we really think we can ride into the playoffs," Wollin said. "I think we've gotten closer to that. Beau and Gideon, they've been our two most consistent and best pitchers so far this season."
And, Litchfield has hunkered down in close games this season. The Dragons are 5-0 in games decided either by two runs or in extra innings. They were 4-6 in such games last season.
"The first two weeks, we found a lot of ways to win games so I think they've kind of got that mindset now that you're never out of a game," said Wollin, whose 425 career wins heading into this season ranks 20th in state history and sixth among active coaches.
Wollin added, "I sometimes refer to it as foolish optimism. You gotta believe, even if you have no reason to believe because you have no clock and the possibility is always there."
That sense of foolish optimism has trickled down to the players.
"Some of the wins where we've come out of the dirt, down 5-0 in some games, the guy behind you hits a home run and everybody is back into it," Schultz said. "Just knowing that it's happened more than once this year, we can never say we're out of it now."
McCann added, "You're really never truly out of a game."
Going through a pair of rough seasons, the senior core is hoping this success continues when they graduate this spring. Schultz is encouraged by how the sophomores and juniors are meshing with the senior-heavy lineup.
"It's 100% a different atmosphere this year because we've done well," Schultz said. "We've gelled a lot more than we used to. We've stuck together all through these years. ... We even have younger guys with us and they're getting that same experience when we were that age, too, getting that chemistry."
Litchfield finds out its postseason path on May 20 when Section 5AA is seeded by QRF ratings on Minnesota-Scores.net. Heading into Friday, the Dragons are second in the section and 16th in Class AA. Behind them are Providence Academy and Southwest Christian at 20th and 21st in AA, respectively.
Sitting atop the section is Glencoe-Silver Lake. They are sixth in the QRF and are fifth in the coaches' poll. The Panthers swept Litchfield in a doubleheader on April 16, 16-0 and 8-2.
"Glencoe, they're always good," McCann said, "but I don't doubt our ability to go against them at all. ... We can go against anyone, really."
Litchfield is looking for its first ever trip to state. If the Dragons can make a deep postseason run, they'll get to enjoy the run at their home park. Optimist Park hosts the 5AA semifinals on June 1 and the championship games on June 4 and 5.
"There is a scenario where we could be at home the whole postseason," Wollin said. "If that would work out, that would be a lot of fun. But we'll see."