By MINDY KEPFIELD

Staff writer

Marion High coach Roger Schroeder can see the silver lining in the cloud of a loss that ended the Warriors’ season.

The team won runner-up at regionals after a 10-0 shutout by Sedgwick in Emporia to end 14-9 for the season, but he can only smile because he knows his players want more.

“I think our disappointment is just in the expectations we’ve built here with our baseball program,” he said. “We expect to compete at the highest levels every year regardless of circumstances.”

The Warriors may not have reached the ultimate goal of a state win, but still had a standout moments this season.

Marion had “an uphill climb” against the Cardinals who enter state tournament ranked number one.

“It was going to be a battle for us,” he said. “I thought we came out and played extremely well.”

Seniors Braedon Mercer and Seth Lanning lent their experience to a young team this year and emerged as leaders.

“We expected them to have a good year, and both of them really did,” he said. “We were better off because of them.”

The Warriors lost the opportunity to learn from an excellent group of seniors who were sidelined by COVID-19 and couldn’t play – which made him appreciate Lanning and Mercer that much more.

Mercer was contributed a lot as a pitcher and will be missed, he said.

Tyler Boudreaux also stepped up for the team despite not having much experience.

Schroeder already has seen a good core of players developing in the Warrior underclassmen, a wonderful prospect for next year.

The team will have a smaller roster, but experienced players will return.

“I think there is a really good group of young men that we can build around and mold into the types of players that we like to see,” he said.