Baseball preview: Usual suspects look strong in HVL

The usual suspects look like the teams to beat again in a Hiawatha Valley League high school school baseball season which begins this week.

HVL teams Kasson-Mantorville, Rochester Lourdes and Cannon Falls combined for 60 wins in 2014. Lourdes won the HVL Gold Division, Cannon Falls won the HVL Blue, and K-M edged Lourdes in a 1-run game to repeat as the Section 1AA champion.

A wealth of returning players with varsity experience makes those three teams stand out on paper from the rest in the 12-team conference in 2015.

To make it more interesting, a realignment of the two divisions brings all three together in the same division.

Lourdes gets the most preseason nods from HVL coaches, because 13 seniors are back from a team that finished 20-5 last season and led the conference in runs per game (8.0).

"Most of these kids have two-plus years of varsity experience, and many are going on their fourth letter in baseball," said Dan Herold, who enters his seventh season as Lourdes' head coach.

'I think we should be considered as one of the top contenders for the conference and section. We have pitching and defense which are key, assuming we can stay healthy."

K-M lost some pitching and infield defense from a team that repeated as Section 1AA champion last year, but couldn't quite repeat as state champ. The KoMets won state in 2013 and finished fourth in 2014.

"We're hoping our strength will be our senior leadership," said K-M coach Broc Threinen, who has six seniors and five starters back from last year's 21-6 team.

"Our expectations are high, but the conference will be full of outstanding teams vying for the conference title," said Threinen, who needs four wins to reach 200 in his 12th season as the KoMets' head coach.

Cannon Falls was the Section 1AA champion in 2012, and coach Bucky Lindow's Bombers look like contenders again with seven players back from last year's 19-5 team.

"The best part about our conference is that you need to be ready to play every game," Threinen said. "It is very competitive."