The Wright City baseball team has its sights on postseason success after being one step short of a district title last season.

Wright City defeated Fulton High School 5-4 and district top seed Southern Boone 4-3 last season to advance to the district final. They fell 3-0 to Boonville High School in the Class 4, District 7 title game last season.

“The last time they won a district championship was in 2006,” Wright City baseball coach Ryan Raterman said. “And getting to the district championship was a big deal for us. We slayed a giant last year in Southern Boone. We beat them to get to the district championship. And I think our energy and our boys put all of our eggs into that basket to try to slay the giant, that when we had to travel back to Southern Boone the next day and play a really tough Booneville team, we just literally ran out of gas and we lost.”

It was a big deal for Wright City to defeat Southern Boone because they were such a good team, Raterman said. The Wildcats have seven seniors, eight juniors, three sophomores and seven freshmen on the team this year. Raterman is in his fourth year as the Wildcats head coach and believes things are running smoothly because the seniors know his expectations.

The Wildcats’ focus this season is competing for a district title and playing their best baseball at the end of the season.

“We have a chance to win back-to-back-to-back conference championships,” Raterman said. “Last year, we were back-to-back and trying to make it a three peat...As much fun as it is winning and winning a conference championship, I don’t care if we go 7-23, as long as those last seven games are the end of the season. So that means we have a ring on our finger.”

Raterman believes the Wildcats will have a balanced team this season. They also strive to have balance on offense. They like playing for the three run home run and the big inning but also have stolen 150 or more bases each of the past two seasons, Raterman said.

“We love doubles and dingers and playing for the three-run inning, the three-run home run,” Raterman said. But we also like small ball. Our first year we stole 170 (bases), and last year we stole 150. So we’re trying to do the same thing. And people know we do it obviously and we just try to continue to get better at our craft.”

Raterman stressed the focus during the first few weeks of practice has been on putting the players in game-like situations. They have competitions and also try to have some type of scrimmage every day of practice.

“Myself and my coaching staff have a checklist of things that need to be checked off before our first game,” Raterman said. “And then some things that need to be checked off heading into districts. And we keep all of our practice plans at the top of every practice. Me and my coaches sit down and we talk about if we think this is a conference championship practice, a district championship practice or a state championship practice. And we dissect ourselves too. So was that a good practice? Did we make them better today because of our practice plan? And then on the contrary, did our boys execute it? What do we need to revisit and things like that too.”

The Wildcats (0-5) dropped their first five games of the season. They dropped games to CBC, Francis Howell Central, Fort Zumwalt North, Battle and Washington. 

The Wildcats are scheduled to play against Hannibal and Warrenton at Warrenton High School Saturday.