Eagle Grove senior Nolan Krauss is a force of nature on the baseball diamond, and he’s the first to admit that he plays his favorite sport with a level of emotion that onlookers may have difficulty understanding.
“I think anyone watching my games can tell in a good way or bad way how passionate I am,” Krauss confessed in a recent interview. “Some games I was a bit of a hothead, but I have a lot of personal goals that I wanted to accomplish. When that doesn’t happen, the attitude comes out.”
When that attitude did come out, the pitcher/third baseman says that Coach Jordan Miller was always by his side to walk him through the mental aspect of the game.
“Coach Miller doesn’t just look at a player and see his skills or attitude and not work with him,” said Krauss. “He worked with me a lot on my attitude and my physical stuff. He’s a great guy, and an even better coach.”
“Attitude” or not, no one can argue that the intensity Krauss brought to the game didn’t produce results for the purple and gold this year. In his final season, Krauss drove in 16 runs, smacked 6 doubles, and hit .274 while drawing 14 walks. On the mound, he was Eagle Grove’s top pitcher with a record of 7-2. Krauss also had a team high 69 strikeouts and boasted a 2.16 ERA.
Those impressive statistics were enough for Krauss to land a spot on the Top of Iowa-West All-Conference Second Team.
Krauss said the All-Conference honor wasn’t on his mind before the season started, but he’s pleased that his efforts were recognized.
“I wanted to come in and pitch my best and have a really good season,” he admitted. “I think I did that to the best of my abilities.”
