English
EspañolFeb. 27---- Each playable season under head coach Tyler Hebrink,
has advanced to the Region XIII tournament.
Hebrink, who had his first two seasons as head coach canceled due to COVID-19, hopes his team's trend of postseason play continues in 2026.
The fifth-year head coach believes his group has what it takes to get there.
Ridgewater opens up the season with a doubleheader against Owens Community College at 8 a.m. Saturday at NorthEast Regional Park in Davenport, Florida.
Hebrink and his Warriors are coming off a 2025 season where they were 14-4 in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference's Central Division and finished with an 18-17 record.
Hebrink's goals have not changed since the time he took over as head coach.
"We want to win the conference, go to the region tournament and have a chance to play for the college world series," Hebrink said. "That's what I envisioned wholeheartedly when I got this job."
As big as these goals are, and to have the deep postseason run Hebrink is seeking, it has to start with Ridgewater's returners on the mound.
Namely, Joe Liebl.
Liebl was an All-MCAC Central Division First Team selection as a freshman.
The left-handed pitcher from Wabasso posted a 5-2 record, including four complete games, with team-bests of a 3.67 ERA and 47 strikeouts in a team-high 49 innings.
Also back as starting pitchers are sophomores Dominic Rose, who is committed to the NCAA Division II Southwest Minnesota State University, and Brennan Fictum.
Rose, a right-handed pitcher from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, had a 5-3 record, including three complete games, with a 5.28 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 44.1 innings.
Fictum, a right-handed pitcher from Wausau West in Wisconsin, was 3-2 in 35.1 innings.
"Joe, Dom and Brennan were three guys who were weekend starters for us last year as freshmen," Hebrink said of three of his four captains. "They are going to be relied on to do the same thing for us this year."
Nolan Eischens, who missed all of the 2025 season due to a back injury, will provide a major boost to Ridgewater's batting order and pitching rotation.
A sophomore utility player, Eischens was an All-Region XIII First Team pick and an All-MCAC First Team selection as a freshman infielder in 2024.
Eischens, from New Prague, batted .471 with 48 hits, including nine doubles and two home runs, 35 runs and 33 RBIs in his freshman season. He also had a 2-2 record in 13.2 innings on the mound.
"Offensively, Nolan is just so advanced compared to anybody else in this league," Hebrink said. "He's also going to pitch and be really good on the mound and play catcher as well. He's going to do a lot of different stuff for us."
Elliot Domagala, Kael Nelson and Blake Morris are key returners for the Warriors, who begin play without six players who received All-MCAC Central Division honors a season ago.
Domagala, an outfielder/right-handed pitcher from Luverne, batted .244 with 22 hits, 21 runs and 19 RBIs in 90 at-bats as a freshman. He is expected to pitch this season.
Nelson, a middle infielder/right-handed pitcher from Hutchinson, hit .352 with 25 hits, 25 runs and 22 RBIs in 71 at-bats. He was an All-MCAC Central Division Third Team infielder last season.
Morris, the fourth captain who is a third baseman from Dassel-Cokato, batted .247 with 22 RBIs, 20 hits and 18 runs in 81 at-bats as a freshman.
"Blake came on for us in the second half of last season," Hebrink said. "I think he'll have a monster year for us this spring."
Hebrink is excited for the arrivals of Dylan Kluis, a left-handed pitcher from Murray County Central, and Davis Patzer, an outfielder from Lac qui Parle Valley, among a large freshmen class with many from the West Central Tribune area.
Local freshmen include Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's Travis Engelke, Daniel Overcash and Evan Zimmer, MACCRAY's Jase Dirksen and Wyatt Swenson and Willmar's Gavin Banks and Connor Smith.
Other area athletes who are sophomores on the roster are KMS' Luke Jeseritz, Paynesville's Brandon Carlson and Yellow Medicine East's Drew Almich.