First-year head Coach Mike Muehlbauer and assistant Chad Myers face plenty of unknowns entering the 2022 baseball season, as there are numerous new faces in preseason workouts at Columbia High.
“We are a very young team with a few upperclassmen who will lead the team very well,” Muehlbauer said. “We will gain some valuable experience this season while winning some games. I am not sure how we will stack up against our district opponents, but I feel we will compete very well. Many of our young players are solid but lack high school playing experience.”
Three seniors, three juniors, four sophomores and 13 freshmen comprise this year’s young Bruin team.
“We have a good turnout with this year’s freshmen,” Muehlbauer said. “Players seem to be really excited to have a full season and are excited to play some ball.”
The Bruins will be led by fourth-year varsity players, seniors William Shute and Nate Roth. Shute was a second team all-league infielder in 2021 and Roth was honorable mention all-league a year ago. Bryson Sauter was the team’s only other regular starter in 2021 as Columbia graduated nine players this past June.
Muehlbauer said the following freshmen players will see significant playing time and contribute to the team regularly: Garrett Kock, Ben Borton, Wyatt Stelma, Kai Brasuell and Sawyer Muehlbauer.
“In conference we have a few young squads that should compete well with each other and a couple solid teams that should compete at the state level this year,” Muehlbauer said.
The Bruins will face one of the better small school programs in Oregon on Wednesday, when they are scheduled to host Dufur High. Game time is 4 p.m. Columbia welcomes Stanfield into town for noon doubleheader on Saturday.
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