Bulldogs baseball gets more wins this year than last 3 combined

One- or two-win seasons have been commonplace for the Wheaton baseball team in recent years, and the Bulldogs are happy to have finished this spring with more wins than the last three campaigns combined.

Nathan Jones, in his first year as Wheaton’s head baseball coach, said much of the season hinged on learning the game and implementing new expectations.

“We had a ton first year starters who were asked to come in and do a lot, and did a very good job,” he said. “Every area of our team improved from the fall season. We saw all our stats increase, which lead to more competitive games and more wins than Wheaton Baseball had seen over the previous three seasons combined. For us to also win only the second district game in the last 12 years was nice.”

That game, Jones said, was no doubt the highlight of the season, as the Bulldogs got to take a little revenge — with some flair.

“McAuley Catholic had beat us earlier in the year, but I felt we had improved beyond them as the season went on,” Jones said. “We had a huge grand slam in that game from Logan Brattin, which I and he will certainly always remember. That helped us go on to run rule them in 6 innings.”

Wheaton won that contest 14-4, but fell to eventual district champion Billings in the semifinals, 9-3.

Jones said to increase the win total even more, the Bulldogs have to come ready to play, or ready to finish games.

“I’d say we still need to learn how to ‘close teams out’ or come out in the first inning and be ready to compete,” he said. “We need to compete better with teams that have winning records, as we struggled going 0-10 in that regard.”

Three seniors — Hunter Wyatt, Cameron Cartwright and Ryan Lechner — led the squad to matching the biggest win total since 2019.

“They modeled exactly what we want our program to represent going forward, as well as Hunter earning a Second Team All-Conference accolade,” Jones said.

Looking forward, Wheaton has a slew of underclassmen making up the core of the team, and Jones hopes to see them take steps forward in the fall.

“We will return two juniors in Riley Roller and Evan Pyle,” he said. “Riley was a Second Team All-Conference and All-District player for us and will absolutely look to continue that into next season. Evan lead our team in walks and caught the most innings for us behind the plate, and I expect him to lead us in a variety of areas, especially behind the plate and in the outfield.

“Our juniors next year gained a ton of experience as sophomores and will need to play even better next year with more experience from this season.”

Jones said players like Brody Bateman, First Team All-Conference and All-District, as well as Second Team All-State in Class 1, will hope to duplicate or improve upon his performance in 2026.

“He and other sophomores Logan Brattin, who was First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-District; Bodie Lauderdale, who was Second Team All-District; and Mitchell Shockley, will all be expected to contribute on the mound, as well as a variety of different positions.

“Lastly, Casen Bolton was our only freshman and started every game for us. He was exceptional as a first base this year and batted near .300 for most of the season with an on-base percentage over .400. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

Jones said when it comes to goals and expectations, the Bulldogs bought into his first season, and that is making him want to reach higher going forward.

“My team bought into the effort and attitude change I was trying to bring to this program, which I believe will only get better as we move forward,” Jones said. “Our goal is to get to at least 10 wins, be above .500 and compete for a district championship. All things that can be obtained if our work ethic will continue to improve.”