MARSHFIELD – When Tom Kraus was still working as an electrician in 1983, he was hired by a Texas company – Chaparral Power – to help with the installation of power generation plants.
Kraus liked the name so much that he adopted it as the nickname for the semi-professional Marshfield Baseball Club which he had initiated and organized a year earlier, in 1982.
Fast forward 45 years and the Marshfield Chaparrals are still going strong, currently under player/manager Luke Wirtz, who is also serving as the organization’s board president.
“It’s just a love of playing baseball and being part of a team,” Wirtz told Hub City Times, when asked what keeps him coming back. “My family was a big baseball family and I got the opportunity to start playing with the Chaps when I was playing in college, and I just kept that going,” added Wirtz, who is in his seventh year as manager and his 12th season as a player.
Anyone within 30 miles of home plate at Hackman Field as the crow flies is eligible to play for the Chaparrals.
“It’s a lot of word of mouth,” said Wirtz, when asked how he puts a squad together each summer. “And you see who’s returning from the previous season.”
The Chaps have a lot of seasoned veterans who’ve returned for another summer.
“We’ve got a couple of catchers on the team this year,” said Wirtz. “Ben Dietsche is a returning kid from Marshfield. He’s also helping coach this year. He’s been coaching for one of the Junior Legion teams, so he’s been kind of in and out right now.
“And then we have a newcomer this year, Brady Berg from Stratford. He’s been an excellent addition, both to our pitching staff and he’s done a lot of catching in the last few weeks as Ben’s been out coaching,” Wirtz added.
Wirtz has been his own first baseman for much of this season thus far.
At second base, Spencer’s Al Lalicata is back, along with second-year player Jack Tubbs of Stratford, who also sees time in the outfield, which is what he plays for St. Mary’s College of Minnesota.
Veteran shortstop Isaiah Baierl is back for another season.
“He’s a fast player, good hitter, usually bats lead-off for us,” Wirtz told us. “He can play outfield just fine. Ultimate utility man.”
Aden Cherney of Auburndale is a newcomer to the Chaparrals this summer.
“Aden’s been a great addition. He played excellent at shortstop when we’ve had him there and he’s done a really good job on the pitching mound as well for us, so he’ll be very useful for us,” Wirtz said. “He’s been playing club baseball at UW-Whitewater.”
Andrew Sieracki of Spencer anchors third base.
In left field mostly, the Chaps have veteran returner Colten Schillinger from Stratford.
Stratford’s Riley Bauman anchors the center field position.
“He is probably our most consistent and most powerful hitter,” said Wirtz. “He’s in graduate school right now and we’re going to support him as he’s trying to become a physical therapist, but when he’s at the ballpark he’s probably batting in the middle of the order.”
Cole Hediger of Neillsville plays mainly right field, but also does a lot of pitching when the Chaps need him.
“He’s probably been our most consistent pitcher over the last couple years, and then he’s also been playing a lot of outfield,” Wirtz shared.
Marshfield’s Logan Homolka is back for another season as well.
“He’s been one of our better and most consistent hitters as well,” Wirtz added.
The roster also includes veteran utility player Will Lee, who is originally from the Park Falls area.
Sam Lehman, who played college baseball at UW-Stevens Point, is another returner and plays mostly outfield, but also does some catching.
Stratford’s Riley Spindler is also on the roster, along with veterans Brent Ystad, Preston Wagner, Hunter Korger and Jason Kurth, who also serves as the organization’s vice-president.
Other board members, who also volunteer, include Brittany Wirtz, Gavin McKiski, Scott Lokken and Brent Ystad.
Other key volunteers include Becky, Callie and Devin McKiski, who help out in the press box and with merchandise sales.
Former player Lucius Messerschmidt also serves as a volunteer.
The Chaparrals are part of the Dairyland League and play in the Large Division, along with Abbotsford, Wisconsin Rapids, Everest, Minocqua, Merrill, Rhinelander and Whittlesey.
The Dairyland League is part of the Wisconsin Baseball Association.
“Thirty-two teams make the playoffs,” Wirtz said. “We have a regional tournament every year where you get seeded based off your conference rankings. If you make it out of your pool in the regional then you go on to the state tournament, which is being hosted in Marshfield this year.”
The WBA State Tournament will be held at Hackman Field Aug. 14-16.
“Oddly enough, the last time that we hosted the state tournament – I believe six years ago – we did make the state tournament that year,” Wirtz added. “We won our regional and got to go to State, so we’re hoping we can maybe make a run in the playoffs this year if we can get things going here.”
As a member of the semi-pro Wisconsin State League, the Marshfield Chaparrals won the state tournament in 1991.
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