Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 25 Athens

Head coach Bill Coker coached the Fighting Bluejays to a Division-4 state title in 2017 behind a group predominantly made up of juniors and underclassmen. Now, Athens gets to focus on repeating as state champs with dugout that’s almost entirely unchanged from a season ago, seriously.

It looks like batters one through nine will look exactly the same as last year, led by junior INF Seth Coker, the other first team all-conference selection Athens has in its squad. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Coker was the team’s best hitter last season, hitting .433 and slugging 629, and he was also 6-for-6 in the state tournament. He’ll be cushioned in the order by some capable bats, senior OF Guyler Luther and the Westfall brothers, as well as RHP/1B Dakota Willemssen. Luther was the team’s second-best offensive producer last year when he hit .392. The Bluejays had three other .300-plus hitters in their lineup in 2017: Marshall and Willemssen (both hit .370), and the freshman Connor (.329). It’s not crazy to think an additional year of experience and development could have this group putting up even loftier statistics on offense.

As good as their offense is however, Athens might be even better on the mound. Marshall, as mentioned earlier, operates as this team’s No. 1, and Ellenbecker is a sturdy No. 2. He won four games last year and finished with a 0.96 ERA for the Bluejays, en route to a second team all-conference honor. The senior Westfall and Ellenbecker make up one of the best D-4 duos in the state and Willmessen should be etched in as the third man in this rotation, a role he filled well last spring.

The 2018 edition of the Bluejays is going to be tested within their conference, though. They finished 10-2 within in the Marawood North last year, tied with D-3 Phillips who wound up sharing the conference crown with Athens. They, too, will return many of their key contributors a season ago which should make for a fun little rivalry in north central Wisconsin.