WAVERLY, Iowa – Wartburg baseball will open the 2025 season on Saturday, Feb. 22 in a neutral-site game against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in Jacksonville, Ill. The Knights will continue play in Jacksonville on Sunday, Feb. 23 with games against St. Norbert and host Illinois College.
Last Season
Wartburg closed the 2024 season with an overall record of 23-19 and an A-R-C record of 12-12. The Knights entered the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) tournament as the six seed, where they defeated the third seeded Luther Norse 8-1, before losing the next two games by one run each to be eliminated.
Cael Boehmer was named a Second Team All-Region honoree by both d3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) a season ago. He was joined by
Eliot Jurgensen, who was named a Third Team All-Region outfielder by the ABCA. Boehmer also earned a Fifth Team All-American nod from d3baseball.com, which marks the first All-American honor since the 2017 season.
Boehmer,
Zach Walton and
Keaton Gray were all First Team All-Conference performers last season. Jurgensen was a Second Team All-Conference performer, while
Max Hansen and
Joey Ciero both were named All-Conference Honorable Mentions.
Season Preview
After opening the season in Jacksonville, Ill., Wartburg will travel south to Florida for seven games over six days in the RussMatt Invitational. The Knights' home opener is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 15 with a doubleheader against St. Olaf College, who won the regular season MIAC title a season ago, beginning at 1 p.m. at Harms Stadium at Hertel Field.
The Knights are led by
Casey Klunder, who is in his second season as head coach at Wartburg.
Kyle Dupic (co-pitching coach) is the lone new face to the Knights' staff ahead of the 2025 season.
Tyler Willis (hitting/infield coach & recruiting coordinator),
Matt Milewski (co-pitching coach),
Hunter Destival (catchers coach) and
Jared Pirkl (outfield coach) all return to the staff from a season ago.
"The theme for our entire team this year is going from good to great," said Klunder in Wartburg's annual spring media day. "We've finished sixth place in the A-R-C in the past three seasons, but we know that's not the goal for our program or any program here at Wartburg. We're trying to break through some ceilings and get a better seed in the conference tournament."
Coach Klunder is excited about having the mix of veterans and newcomers on the 2025 roster, "We have a good number of veteran guys that have seen a lot here, as well as a good mix of younger guys who have had a great preseason with us so far." said Klunder. Wartburg will welcome 22 newcomers to this year's roster to go along with some key returners for the Knights in
Will Armstrong,
Caleb Andrews, Ciero, Jurgensen,
Carter Stubitz and Walton.
Wartburg was selected to finish fifth in conference standings by the annual A-R-C preseason coaches poll. "I can't think of anybody (A-R-C teams) that's not going to be as good as they were a year ago," said Klunder. "As much as I think we are better this year, I do think we will be challenged a lot in conference play."
