The 2021 Cowboy baseball team finished at 1-21 overall, with a 1-13 conference mark. Webster City was the NCC champ with a 14-0 record, followed by Humboldt at 10-4 and Algona at 9-5. Cael Chase earned a spot on the All-Conference second team, while Mateo Martinez received a nod to the third team in balloting of league coaches.
The team had 446 total at-bats, with 63 runs on 110 hits. They batted in 52 runners, took 64 walks, had 22 hit by pitch and had 17 reach on an error. The collective team batting average was .247. Cael Chase had 24 hits on 56 at-bats for an average of .429. Preston Gardner had 18 hits in 57 at-bats for an average of .316. Mateo Martinez had 17 hits in 56 at-bats for an average of .304. Porter Chase had 15 hits in 56 at-bats for an average of .268. Kaleb King had nine hits in 42 at-bats for an average of .214.
Nevan Foss had eight hits in 39 at-bats for an average of .205. Thane Jackson had eight hits in 40 at-bats for an average of .200. Damien Bjorklund had six hits in 42 at-bats for an average of .143. Mason Allen had five hits in 46 at-bats for an average of .109.
The team manufactured their runs on 85 base hits, 24 doubles and one triple. There was 52 total RBI. Foss and P. Chase led in runs scored at nine each, followed by Martinez at eight, Gardner and Bjorklund at seven each, Jackson at six, King at five, Nick Carpenter, Allen and C. Chase at three each, Wyatt DeCoster at two and Ulises Frias at one run.
Reaching double digits in base hits were C. Chase at 18, Gardner at 15, P. Chase at 14 and Martinez at 11. Martinez reached base six times on a double and C. Chase five times. Gardner and Foss had three apiece, Allen and Bjorklund two each and Jackson, P. Chase and King one each. C. Chase smacked the triple. C. Chase led with 12 RBI, followed by Martinez and Gardner at 10 each. P. Chase finished at nine, Foss at five, Allen and Bjorklund at two apiece and Jackson and Carpenter at one each.
The team drew 64 walks, had 22 batters hit by pitch and 17 that reached on an error. Jackson used a keen eye to take 13 free trips to first, while Foss and Bjorklund had 11 apiece. Allen led the hit by pitch column at five, with Carpenter next at three and five others tied at two each. Gardner reached on an error four times, with Jackson and P. Chase next at three each.
There were 24 total stolen bases in 29 attempts. Gardner picked off six of those in seven tries, with Martinez, Foss and P. Chase both at 4 out of 4. King had two steals and DeCoster, Allen, Jackson and Bjorklund all one each.
The team had 324 total putouts, 56 total errors and 474 total catches. Of those that played in at least 20 games, Allen led the putouts at 86 with C. Chase next at 84. Allen led in total catches at 96, followed by C. Chase at 95 and Bjorklund at 53. Ranked by fielding percentage, regardless of number of games played, the order would be: DeCoster 1.000, Foss 1.000, C. Chase .979, Jackson .913, Allen .906, Carpenter .879, Gardner .862, King .846, P. Chase .833, Martinez .776 and Bjorklund .755.
Bjorklund pitched in nine games and started seven, finishing with a record of 0-6. He threw 36 1/3 innings, with 48 earned runs on 71 hits. He walked 25, hit six batters and had 26 K’s. King pitched in nine games and started three, finishing with a record of 1-3. He threw 23 1/3 innings, with 26 earned on 48 hits. He walked 10, hit six batters and had 12 K’s. He also finished with the lowest individual ERA (7.80). P. Chase pitched in eight games and started six, finishing with a record of 0-5. He threw 20.0 innings, with 43 earned on 48 hits. He walked 16, hit 13 batters and had seven K’s.
C. Chase pitched in six games and started three, finishing with a record of 0-3. He threw 13 2/3 innings, with 28 earned on 39 hits. He walked 13, hit four batters and had 11 K’s. Martinez pitched in five games and started one, finishing with a record of 0-2. He threw 8 2/3 innings, with 17 earned on 20 hits. He walked 19, hit two batters and had 5 K’s. Gardner pitched in four games with no starts, finishing at 0-0. He threw 8 2/3 innings, with 16 earned on 20 hits. He walked eight, hit one batter and had 31 K’s. Foss pitched in two games with no starts, finishing at 0-0. He threw 24 pitches, with two earned on two hits. He walked two and hit one batter.
In conference games only, C. Chase tied for 15th in batting average with a .368. He also tied for 15th in slugging percentage at .474.
