The Wright City baseball team is ready to make another run at a district title. 

The Wildcats return a strong nucleus from last season’s team that won a pair of games in the district tournament before falling to St. Charles West on a walkoff home run in the district championship game. Wright City’s seven returning seniors have been to the district championship game their only two seasons of high school baseball. 

“They’ve been there twice. Just haven’t done that yet,” Wright City baseball coach Ryan Raterman said. “After being there twice, hopefully the jitters are gone and we can. I’d like to think we can get back there again and give ourselves a chance again.”

Wright City is led by all-state players Hayden Waters and Duan McRoberts. A senior, Waters returns as the Wildcats’ top pitcher. He also started in the outfield when he was not on the mound and hit in the middle of Wright City’s lineup. A sophomore, McRoberts hit in the leadoff spot for the Wildcats for the majority of last season. He started in the outfield for Wright City. 

The Wildcats return a bevy of other starters from last year’s squad. Sophomore Jake Orf is expected to take over a starting role for the Wildcats after seeing increased playing time late last season as a freshman. Orf hit the game-tying double with two outs in the seventh inning in last year’s district championship game. 

With the loss of a couple big bats from last year’s team, Raterman anticipates the Wildcats will use their speed even more this season. They are faster as a team this season. 

“It’s no secret that we play a unique style,” Raterman said. “And people are going to know that but I don’t think that’s going to matter because of our team speed. It’s even more of an emphasis now so we’re going to be even better at it than prior years I would say.”

Like many spring sports teams, the Wildcats had to deal with difficult weather conditions early in the season. As of last Thursday, the Wildcats only had four outdoor practices due to weather conditions. This included one practice the Wildcats were only able to play catch outdoors. They did not get much field time as a result prior to last week’s Jamboree and season opening games. Raterman did say he thought the Wildcats were ahead in their X’s and O’s, specifically with how they want to run their offense and their bunt coverages. 

Raterman thinks the Wildcats have a good chance to have a successful season and finish the season over the .500 mark. Their expectation is to get back to the district championship game and give themselves a chance to win the district title. 

"Pitching and defense has been a focus of ours,” Raterman said. “Our guys probably wish that they hit more but I think that getting over the hump, it’s in every sport. Defense wins championships. And so does pitching. We’ve got to pitch it and play defense.”

Wright City split a pair of games at the Jamboree. They beat Orchard Farm 17-1 and fell to Sullivan 5-2 despite playing a lineup mixed of varsity and junior varsity players in their game against Sullivan. They dropped a pair of games to St. Francis Borgia to start the regular season.