Mariner seniors shine toward bright future
Carrie Pichler
Mariner seniors pose for photo.
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POLSON – Some play baseball for the fame, some for the glory, some because it’s simply something to do to fill a summer void. For the Mission Valley Mariners seniors, it’s much more – they’ve become a family.
For a lot of the Valley’s young ball players, taking the field in a Mariner uniform is the greatest honor and for those that dedicate their entire high school age career to summers filled with sunflower seeds, scraped knees and hometown fan excitement, that hard work leads to success on a college diamond as well.
Nine Mission Valley Mariners will play their last games this season and will be moving on to that great unknown abyss called adulthood.
Bradley Pichler has been with the Mariners for five seasons. Pichler will leave the Mariners with a career achievement of 20 wins and only 2 losses on the mound and a 2.47 ERA in his four years with the A team. After already spending a year on the Dawson Community College Buccaneer baseball team, Pichler will return to Dawson in the fall to complete his two-year tenure before transferring to a university.
Kellen Hoyt spent four and a half seasons with the Mariners with his fifth season cut short due to deployment to Afghanistan as an MP in the United States National Guard. Hoyt’s four years with the A team career ERA is 3.70 with a 19-9 record overall. He will be returning to Dawson Community College in the spring to finish his second season as a Buccaneer pitcher.
Zeke Webster-Yaqui is in his fourth year with the Mariners, three years have been spent as the starting center fielder for the A Team. Webster-Yaqui boasts an outstanding batting career with 245 hits over three years, equating to a .443 batting average. He will be heading to Columbia Basin Community College in Pasco, Wash. in the fall and will join the Hawk’s baseball roster.
Alex Killian has played four seasons with the M’s. Killian has a batting average of .391 also leading the seniors in career homeruns with 11 over his two full seasons behind the plate as the A team’s starting catcher. He will travel to Hickory, N.C. in August to play ball for Catawba Valley Community College.
Jared Young has spent four seasons with the Mariners with two as a full time A Team member. Young has five wins on the mound for the M’s and an on base percentage of .340. He will join teammates in the fall as a Buccaneer on the Dawson Community College baseball roster.
Aaron Rasmussen is in his fourth season with MVM. Rasmussen has been called “one cool dude” by teammates and finishes his career with a .296 on base percentage over two years with the senior team. He has punched his ticket to play ball for Dawson in the fall.
Brennan Andrews played for the M’s for two and a half seasons with his third season coming to an end sooner than planned as he has enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and is on his way to basic training. Andrews hit .341 in his year and a half on the A team roster.
Quinn Harlan has been with the Mariners for four seasons, though most of his play time was cut short due to injury and multiple surgeries. Though Harlan spent the majority of his time on the bench, it was not without reward as he spent his final season as a dedicated coach. Harlan will finish his Mariners run with a career batting average of .324. He will be attending Lane College in Eugene, Ore. in the fall.
Ryan Pablo has played ball for the Mariners for three years with two as a starter on the A team. He has a career batting average of .356 with 55 stolen bases and a .406 on base percentage with the A team. Pablo has received a full tuition scholarship to play baseball in Glendive as a Buccaneer in the fall.
TJ Olson moved from Missoula to Polson in the 2013 season and is in his second year of Mariners baseball. Due to an early graduation last year and because of his age, Olson will be eligible for one more season with the M’s. Olson has racked up extra bases in his two seasons of play with 34 doubles, six triples, and eight homeruns with a .418 batting average overall.
Though each of the Mariner seniors will be saying goodbye, they will not leave without taking with them valuable lessons learned — not just about the game, but also about teamwork, friendship, and family.
