Pratt, Kan. - The Pratt Community College baseball team opens their 2025 season on the road in Iola, Kan. against Allen County Community College on January 29. We had a chance to sit down with head baseball coach Todd Reller entering his fifth season at the helm to talk about the upcoming season.  

First, entering year five as head coach you have made the postseason three out of four seasons as you sit here in January what you are excited about and some expectations for the coming season.  

It is hard to judge what expectations should be. I mean, we have goals and aspirations that include making playoffs. That includes trying to make it to the NJCAA region six tournament in Wichita, Kan. We have been close a couple times and competing in this conference makes you a tough ball club. We have a young group. You know, we are going to start, two or three freshmen arms in the rotation. We will have a lot of freshmen on our pitching staff and the bullpen. There is going to be a number of freshmen in the lineup. It is a young group that we are going to have to grow and develop as the year goes on. That will lead us to what our expectations will be as we go throughout the season. But it is an exciting group for sure. A lot of arm talent and a lot of tough individuals on the offensive side. They have a chance to reach that ceiling with how they are competing.  

When you look at the roster people that know Pratt baseball will recognize a few names on the list. You have a big freshman class this year... talk about your thoughts in terms of resetting your roster going into this season?  

I think it has been a breath of fresh air having the group in that we have this year. There were a few sophomores last year that were great to be around and great kids, great individuals, and players for us. This year's group embraced each other and the work they need to put in to be successful. They show up before practice, stay after practice and are really getting after it. The leadership and individuals of our small sophomore class have set the standard and are there every day battling to catch bullpens and staying after to watch other guys throw and help the team.  

As you talk about your sophomores, what type of leadership do they provide to your freshman class in showing them what it means to be a member of the Pratt baseball program and the campus community?  

That group is not afraid to speak up. You cannot fault them for anything they do, really in terms of their work ethic or their focus or commitment. And so, when freshmen, you know, even if it is a large freshman class, those sophomores are the minority on our team right now. They are a small group, but they are not going to let anything get by on this group. And I think you have seen many young guys commit to what they need to do daily to be at a high level. Because of that leadership and their commitment to our program they have set the standard.  

Let us talk about your pitching staff as you lost every starter from last season. You do return redshirt sophomore Curtis Anderson from injury and so what should people expect to see from your pitching staff this season?  

I think that the headliner will be Ethan Froud. He was a freshman last year that really came on down the stretch out of the bullpen. He is a high-level guy, that has a really strong work ethic. He will be the headline of the staff. You know, Chris Anderson's back, he is the one guy on this pitching staff that has innings and starts and things like that. He is a year and a half off making a pitch in a college game and so it will be important to knock off some of that rust early on. It is exciting to have him back on staff and have that experience that you can rely on. There are a few freshman arms that will be exciting to watch including Preston Paschal and Ryan Kwasniycia. It will be fun to see what that staff can do and the results they produce and finally the development over the season.  

Playing baseball in January is tough and so has training and practice gone over the past few weeks with extreme cold temperatures and snow and ice on the field?  

It has not been ideal, that is for sure. When you get, you know, nine inches of snow and ice dumped on you, it is going to make it a challenge to get the work you need in. And then when it is cold after that, it is hard to get outside. It is not ideal, but you know, our motto is find a way. We are going to find a way to get it done. We have said it repeatedly, nobody is going to feel sorry for us when we step on the field for our first game, if we have not gotten enough reps of this, that or the other. The focus needs to be on competing and finding a way to get it done. It is going to be what our non-conference schedule is going to be about just continuing to get those reps and get better and build off it. The guys have made loads of improvement from where we finished in the fall to where we are right now.  

Talking about your non-conference schedule. You start with Allen County, and you will go to Fort Scott. You will play a few JV teams there as well, but the big series is a trip out to Johnson County who is preseason ranked No. five in the country and finished in the top five last season. Can you talk about how you set up a non-conference schedule?  

We just try to find teams that are going to challenge us and especially try to play if we can teams on the east side of the conference. Our schedule must prepare us for what we will face when conference season comes. Playing teams like Allen County and Fort Scott are going to be a challenge for us and getting Johnson County in the middle of that will be the tough animal. It is about being a battle tested group by the time we get to March and are starting conference season. We will face many teams that have the talent to beat anybody during our conference season, so it will take elite focus and execution on our part to handle it.  

Finally, let us talk about the conference schedule and the fact that you were picked last in the preseason poll. Have the guys talked about it and what has the conversations been like about approaching conference play?  

It is our job to keep it from being a monkey on their back. We know about it and obviously it lit a little bit of fire under us.  But at the same time, only three teams in this conference played against us in the fall. They are the only groups that got to see us play and they did not get to see us play full on. So, it is one of those things that is built off history and perception. Perception and history are not going to be what is written about in the spring. So, to me, it is something that we are not going to be worried about it. We are just going to go compete and do what we need to do to be successful in the spring.