Panthers seek consistency

With several players returning from last year’s roller-coaster season, Creston baseball coach Brandon Phipps said some valuable lessons were learned in hopes of a more consistent 2026 campaign.

A busy first week of baseball begins with a home game Monday against Carlisle, followed by a varsity doubleheader at Winterset Tuesday before returning home Wednesday to face Nodaway Valley.

“It’s a challenging start, but it gets us ready for the conference season,” said Phipps, beginning his fifth season at the helm. “We’re in our second full week of practice and still working with guys involved in spring sports. We’re trying to balance things and respect what they’re doing at the end of their spring sport, but at the end of the day we’re both in season so we have to practice. Our first game is a big deal to us, too.”

Last year’s 16-17 season included an 11-9 record in the Hawkeye Ten, tied for third with Kuemper Catholic behind Lewis Central (19-1) and Harlan (18-2). The Panthers had a nine-game winning streak in June that pushed the record to 16-10, but then dropped seven in a row at the end of the season, including a 6-1 loss to an 11-22 Clarke team to open district play.

“It was a little bit of a bitter taste at the end of last season, because we were having a great year going into that last stretch,” Phipps said. “We were competing every night, then the wheels started to fall off. We weren’t playing good defense behind our pitchers and we weren’t finding gaps at the plate. I took a lot of ownership on that and we’re going into this season with more focus on discipline as a team. We have a handbook now. It spells out our expectations and standards. We have to stay focused on playing good baseball when it counts at the end.”

Five seniors graduated off last year’s team, including ace pitcher and third baseman Parker Varner. Varner was named to the All-Hawkeye Ten first team with a 6-3 pitching record, 2.39 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 61 innings. He also batted .368 with a team-high 25 RBIs.

Other seniors last year were outfielders Tyler Riley and Brayden Schoon, and infielders Camden Smith and Mattias Schultes.

Pitching leaders

Juniors Tanner Ray and Tom Mikkelsen, along with sophomore Landyn Scherer and lefthanded freshman Mason Wilson, figure to handle much of the starting pitching duties this year. Sophomore Brady McDonald will figure heavily in those plans, too, when he returns in early June from a hip injury suffered during the track season.

Ray logged the second-most innings last season (51) with a 2-5 record, 3.29 ERA and 44 strikeouts. Scherer was 4-1 with a 4.60 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 35 innings. Mikkelsen went 2-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 23 innings.

The bullpen features juniors Rhett Driskell and Cason Scarberry and senior Jameson McDonald, who will do some starting on the mound and at catcher during Brady McDonald’s absence.

“Even with the loss of Varner, I really think our pitching staff is a strength of our team,” Phipps said. “A lot of these guys got varsity innings last year and we expect them to be even better with that experience.”

Mikkelsen and the two McDonalds will handle most of the catching duties. Mikkelsen was one of the team’s top hitters a year ago, making first team all-conference with a .362 average and three home runs.

Driskell, Wilson and junior Hunter Kiley are working at first base this season. Sophomore Logan Stehr, who missed the end of last season with hip surgery, returns at second base.

Ray, who made Hawkeye Ten honorable mention last year with a .282 average and 24 runs scored, anchors the shortstop position. Scherer will play mostly at third base, but will slide to shortstop when Ray is pitching. Driskell can move to third when Scherer is on the mound.

Outfielders

There are several outfielders on this year’s roster who played varsity innings a year ago. Leading candidates are senior Mark Kasha in left, Scarberry in center and Gabe Blazek in right. Brady McDonald will likely play a lot of center field when he returns, but is also valuable in sharing catching duties and stints on the mound.

Junior Nico Leppla and Scherer provide outfield depth.

“We’ve got a solid corps of 11 or 12 guys we will be depending on a lot at the varsity level, but we have some talented younger players, too,” Phipps said. “I love this team. Lewis Central returns a lot of talent from a very good team as the [conference] front runners, but after that it’s wide open. We feel if we’re playing quality Creston baseball we can beat anybody. But we know from last season that you can’t let down and lay an egg against anybody.”

Phipps is again assisted by Cole Crawford, Conner Pals, Drew Dornack, Gavin Shawler and Jake Baudler (middle school coach).