The Minot High baseball team graduated 11 seniors from last year’s roster that advanced to the Class A state championship game. This year’s roster includes three seniors, four juniors, sixth sophomores and one freshman. Mike Kraft/MDN

A common theme among most of the boys sporting programs at Minot High this season has been dealing with roster overhauls following larger-than-average senior classes from the prior year.

Add the baseball team to that list.

A season after advancing to the Class A state championship game, the Magicians are tasked with replacing 11 players from last year’s squad, including all-staters Kellan Burke and Carson Deaver. Burke was named the 2024-25 Gatorade North Dakota Baseball Player of the Year, batting a team-best .547 with 42 total hits, including 10 triples and three home runs. He amassed 32 RBIs and 41 runs scored, striking out just three times in 128 plate appearances.

Deaver was one of the Magicians’ aces on the mound last season, pitching 52.2 innings with a team-leading 1.19 ERA amongst those with at least 10 innings pitched. He struck out 68 batters, allowing 29 hits and 12 runs – nine earned.

“They are hard to replace,” Minot High coach Pete Stenberg said. “We just have to see if we can get someone or maybe more than one person who wants to step up and start filling those roles and taking that leadership and playing one game at a time to the fullest.”

Teegan Strand is another decorated athlete Minot High will have to find a replacement for. He was one of five Magicians to earn all-WDA honors last season along with Burke, Deaver, Aidan Diehl and Tre Stewart. Strand and Deaver led the Magicians with seven wins on the mound each.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year, but we have a lot of new guys that can step up and step into some big spots,” junior Gavin King said.

The good news for the Magicians is that a roster overhaul doesn’t necessarily mean a rebuilding season. They can look at some of the seasons Minot High’s other sports teams have had while being in a similar boat during the fall and winter. The tennis team graduated five of their top seven players, yet went on to finish third in the WDA standings and advanced to the state tournament, placing sixth in the dual tournament. The soccer team graduated 13 seniors, but the pieces came together and it finished second in the WDA standings and sixth at state. In the winter, the hockey program had to replace its biggest scoring contributors coming off the heels of one of its most successful seasons and they did just that, winning the WDA regular season and postseason titles.

Tegan Schindler is the lone senior on the roster with varsity experience. He batted .261 as a junior with two doubles, two triples, 13 RBIs and six runs scored. Schindler steps into a leadership role and is hoping to take the lessons he’s learned from last year’s senior class and pass them on to the younger players.

“There were big role models,” Schindler said. “They would always try and do everything right and they’d want you to try and be better and that’s what I want to try and do for us.”

Two other seniors – Evan Racine and Peyton House – will be making their varsity debuts this season.

The Magicians have five other returners with King and fellow juniors Drew Jordan, Remington Anderson and Brock Thompson, and sophomore Oliver Deschamp. Deschamp will take over behind the plate after serving as backup catcher to Burke last season and also serving as a designated hitter. Deschamp batted .324 – the best amongst returners – with 5 doubles, 17 RBIs and 13 runs scored. He was one of six Magicians to hit above .300 last year. The Magicians put up 10 or more runs eight times last year.

New to the varsity roster this season are freshman Carter Bush and sophomores Cole Deaver, Brody Johnson, Owen Meyer, Owen Sundahl and Grady Weppler.

The departed seniors accounted for 193 total hits – 28 doubles, 14 triples and four home runs – 147 RBIs and 183 runs scored. On the mound, they tossed a combined 181.1 innings and struck out 168 batters. They accounted for nearly 85 percent of Minot High’s innings pitched and all but three wins.

Stenberg said that pitching and defense should be strong right out of the gate. Last year’s pitching staff held opponents to two runs or fewer 17 times and had five shutouts.

“We’re going to be fairly solid on the mound,” Stenberg said. “We have guys that can throw strikes. Defensively, we’re going to be OK, too. We’ve got a good group of kids that are moving up and coming back, some that got a little more playing time during the summer at the upper level. I think early we’re going to be middle of the pack and then we’re going to work our way up.”

King returns with the most experience on the mound from last year in terms of innings pitched. He tossed 25.1 innings, sporting a 3.59 ERA with 21 strikeouts and the other two victories for the Magicians.

“We’ve got good pitching this year for sure, so the bats have to step it up,” King said.

Stenberg said he expects Minot High to be toward the middle of the WDA standings in the early going while the team gains experience playing together before hopefully making a move toward the top as the year progresses. The preseason coaches’ poll expects them to start in the middle and end in the middle, placing the Magicians sixth. Bismarck Legacy is the favorite, garnering six first-place votes. Mandan and Dickinson were second and third, respectively.

“Every year the WDA is a dog fight,” Stenberg said. “You can be the No. 1 seed with two weeks left in the season and you could end up at No. 4. You could be No. 6, 7, 8 and end up at No. 3 or No. 4. Our WDA is a tough conference and usually everybody has a pitcher or two that can shut down a team and if you get hot at the right time any of those things can happen.”

Minot High and Mandan split the WDA regular season title, with the Magicians earning the No. 1 seed in the WDA Tournament. The two met in the WDA championship, with the Braves winning 9-8. The Magicians trailed 9-1 entering the bottom of the fifth.

The Magicians appeared in their 20th state tournament since 2000 and advanced to the state championship game for the first time since 2019. Minot High lost to West Fargo Sheyenne, 6-5, in a game it trailed 5-0 after five innings.

“If you’re asking me, I want to go all the way,” Schindler said. “Heart and soul. That’s all we have to offer here, so we’re going to have to play as hard as we can and stop for nothing.”

To achieve that level of success once again this season, Stenberg said that it’ll be the little things that determine if the Magicians have a big year.

“We have to do the routine things, the every day plays that you have to make,” Stenberg said “You can’t leave runners on. If you get somebody on base early, you have to be able to scratch across a run and get them across the plate. And pitching, if you’re throwing strikes, that sure means a lot. If you put a lead runner on base from a walk, nine times out of 10 they come around to score on you, so you gotta play the basics.”

Weather permitting, Minot High opens its season against Williston on Friday, March 27, at noon at Corbett Field.