Ryan Raterman took over as the head man for the Wright City baseball program in 2019.
Since then, with the exception of the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, all the program has done is win …
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Ryan Raterman took over as the head man for the Wright City baseball program in 2019.
Since then, with the exception of the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, all the program has done is win conference championships in the two seasons that have been played.
Since starting the season 0-3-2 in the Troy Tournament, the Wildcats have won 12 of their next 15 games and are posting some big numbers at the plate.
“From the beginning of the year we knew there was always a chance of getting shut down again due to COVID,” Raterman said. “So we played each game like it was potentially our last.”
Raterman has tallied a 25-17-2 overall record as a head coach in his first two years, but in conference play is where the Wildcats have dominated. They have a gaudy 17-2 record in the Eastern Missouri Conference in the past two seasons, with an undefeated record at 9-0 with some very lopsided scores this spring.
“We also knew we had a target on our back from 2019, and that we were going to get everyone’s best and their ace,” Raterman said. “So we had to show up and show out.”
One of the reasons Wright City has had success this season in conference play is because some of their core players loved facing EMO opponents.
Junior Ian Wolff was on fire at the plate, posting a .650 batting average with four home runs and 17 runs batted in.
On the mound, Wright City started four different players in conference play. Juniors Kyle Johnson, Logan Kellner, Logan McCartney and sophomore Hayden Waters combined to go 9-0, pitched 79 percent of the innings played, threw five complete games, and gave up only six earned runs for an earned run average of 1.16.
“In 2019 we were still young and still trying to figure each other out even though we had a whole season under our belt,” Raterman said. “With this core group of guys, they know how things should be run, offensively and defensively.”
Raterman has instilled an important mantra into his program that the players have bought into, and it’s simply one word — “MUDITA.”
“MUDITA is even more of a thing now, more than ever,” Raterman said. “MUDITA is having a vicarious joy for your teammates and sacrificing anything and everything for your brother.”
However, moving forward, Wright City can’t celebrate the conference championship for long as they have big plans ahead of them. In 2019, they were upset in districts and are not looking for that same feeling again this year.
“At first, they had tons of excitement after the game, clinching an undefeated conference title, and that excitement carried into the next day as the school buzzed with excitement as well,” Raterman said. “But if you ask these guys what the end goal is, they will say we are playing for the last seven games of the year.”
The Wildcats have a tough district and will open on Saturday in the play-in game at 1 p.m. at Southern Boone High School against Fulton, which sports a 9-14 record.
If the Wildcats win, they will face top seed Southern Boone (21-2) on Monday at 4 p.m.
“We still have time to get better before Saturday in all aspects of the game,” Raterman said. “We just have to win each pitch and chip away at the buffalo.”
