Cole Deaver is one of several Metros players expected to pitch significant innings this year. Deaver mainly pitched with the Minot 26ers last season, appearing in 14 games and tossing 28 innings, sporting a 3.00 ERA. Nathan Beitler/MDN

The last couple of years of Minot Metros baseball for head coach Craig Schmich has had many different twists and turns, but resulted in the same destination.

The roster makeup, the win-loss record, the team strengths and the level of experience have varied year to year, yet Schmich is still seeking that elusive state tournament victory for himself and his team. Schmich’s first three trips to the state tournament have ended with consecutive losses and premature exits.

While getting back to the state tournament is Minot’s ultimate goal this season, it is not what they are worried about in the opening week of June. They have a 40-game regular season schedule to get through over the next two months before concerning themselves with the postseason.

“For us, it’s trying to figure out what kind of team we’re going to be,” Schmich said. “These guys just finished up their high school seasons and both Minot High and Minot North made the state tournament, so there is some good baseball and some good talent all the way around here in Minot. Right now it’s figuring out what we have and we know them from coaching the kids last year and watching them play for the 26ers, it’s just more figuring out what kind of group we’re going to be.”

The Metros lost 10 players from last year’s team that went 27-19 and was the No. 2 seed from the West Region. as they made the move up to the Vistas this summer. Among the departed players were their top three pitchers in terms of innings with Kayden Danielson (54 2/3), TJ Hjelmstad (49 1/3) and Remington Anderson (46). The trio combined for 28 starts and 14 wins, compiling 121 strikeouts. All three had an ERA under 4.00. Danielson led the group with a 2.43 ERA.

Filling that starting pitching void will be Brody Johnson and Grady Weppler, as well as Cole Deaver. Johnson tossed 43 1/3 innings last season, making six starts and 17 appearances. He went 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA. He allowed 36 runs on 37 hits, striking out 47 and walking 37.

Weppler and Deaver pitched with the Minot 26ers last season, making 12 combined starts and 26 appearances overall. Weppler threw 31 2/3 innings, while Deaver threw 28 innings. Weppler struck out 37 batters and Deaver had a 3.00 ERA.

“Last year, we were a pretty offensive team and this year going into it, we’re going to be leaning more heavily on the pitching side and going to have to play some defense and I think we can be a little bit offensive, but that will come, it will just take a little more time than it did last year,” Schmich said.

Owen Sundahl, Owen Meyer, Brady Vigested and Ty Iverson will solidify the bullpen, but could also see a few starts. Vigested made 14 appearances out of the bullpen last year, allowing just six earned runs in 19 2/3 innings. He sported a 2.14 ERA, with opponents batting .226.

The Metros lost their top five hitters in terms of batting average among those that appeared in at least 25 games. Vigested is the top returner with a .319 average last season. He collected 38 hits, including five doubles and a triple, and had 22 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Sundahl batted .284 with 33 hits, 21 RBIs and 26 runs scored.

As a unit, the 2025 Metros’ offense batted .315 and scored 307 runs. They had 12 sacrifice bunts, something Schmich said might be a more common occurrence this year.

“Offensively, we’re going to have to do a little bit more small ball than we had to last year,” Schmich said. “Last year was letting them go hit and see what would happen and we didn’t really start bunting or some of those things until the fifth, six or seventh inning when we had some close games. This year, we might have to go a little more West Coast style and bunt and hit and run. We have some guys in the middle of the order who can swing it and drive in some runs, but the top half of our order and a little bit of that bottom half we’ve got some speed, so might as well utilize that as best as we can.”

When assessing the rest of the state, Schmich sees plenty of talented opposition, citing the Bismarck Reps, Bismarck Senators and Valley City, specifically. The Reps’ U15 program is coming off a strong 2025 campaign and now its roster all join the Class A team. The Senators return the bulk of their team that advanced to the state tournament last season. And Valley City won the West Region title and brought back all but one player.

With five non-conference games to start the season, the Metros can ease their way into summer baseball after completing the high school season two days before their season opening doubleheader against Garrison on Tuesday, June 2. They hosted Beulah for a doubleheader on Wednesday, June 3, and travel for one nine-inning game against Renville County on Friday, June 5, at 5 p.m.

“We’re definitely going to move some guys around and give some guys some opportunities,” Schmich said. “We have 12 full-time guys on the roster with five dual-roster kids from the junior legion team. We’ll have some of those junior legion guys play with us this week and get in as many guys on the field as possible these first five games or so to see where we’re at as a group and have some guys win some positions.”

Schmich said he isn’t worried about the lack of time to practice together between the end of the high school season and start of the Legion baseball season. Despite only practicing twice leading up to their games against Garrison, they all spent time together playing for either Minot High or Minot North.

“They’ve played together their whole lives,” Schmich said. “And even some of the older guys on the team that have been here for a little bit or some of the newer guys, there isn’t a big divide amongst our team. We’ve had two practices and already I can see this team is pretty close and they’re ready to go to battle with each other. It’s going to be a fun summer. I really enjoy the boys that are on the team and I can’t wait to see what we can produce and hopefully get us back to that state tournament again this year.”

The path to the state tournament will be a bit more challenging for teams in the West Region. With Williston hosting this year’s state tournament, the Oilers receive an automatic bid into the field, leaving just three available spots remaining in the West Region before the conference schedule even begins.

The Metros are off to a strong start to open the 2026 campaign, winning their first four games. The opened the season on the road and swept a doubleheader with Garrison, winning the opener, 4-3, in eight innings before winning the nightcap, 8-6. The following day, Minot recorded its first shutout of the year in a 7-0 victory against Beulah before completing the sweep with a 15-9 win in Game 2.