After struggling last season with injuries and illnesses that often limited his roster options, West Prairie/ Southeastern head baseball coach Grant Bland is excited for the co-op between the two schools this spring due to the increase in players to the program.
Bland welcomed 26 student-athletes to the start of spring practice, 15 from West Prairie and 11 from Southeastern.
West Prairie and Southeastern boys have already joined together this season for football and several of the players played against one another in basketball, so Bland was pleased to see some familiarity with several of the players.
Players for the 2026 West Prairie/Southeastern High School baseball team include the following. Front, from the left: Keaton Shepler, Alex Reuschel, Zander Ford, Hudson Riebling, Ivan Beck, Tyson Carnes, Matthew Whitman, Mason Whitman, Hudson Ramsey and Payton Totten. Back: Holden Coplan, Hunter Jackson, Jason Foust, Austin Nelson, Flynn Laffey, Eli DeCounter, Gannon Shipman, Case Marlow, Kash Lantz, Braden Coplan and Jace Brown. Photo by Shelby Burget
“On that first day, it was really cool seeing them conversing with one another and joking as such and each day gets better and better,” said Bland. “Some of them knew each other from football, but not as many as I thought did actually. They’ve really started to come together pretty well. I love to see them interact like they’ve known each other forever.”
After having his roster reduced at times last season to anywhere from eight to 11 players, Bland is very happy with the influx of new players.
“It’s nice to have a practice where you can work on so many different things,” Bland said. “You can do scrimmages, you work on live arm stuff and work on people in different positions. And I’m still learning a lot of these Southeastern guys, even our freshmen, too, that I coached in sixth grade. A lot changes over two or three years.”
West Prairie and Southeastern each had sub-500 seasons last year, but Bland is optimistic for this spring as several starters return from both schools.
One exciting part of the co-op and the additional numbers it provides for Bland is being able to schedule junior varsity games again, which was not possible for West Prairie last year.
Another change for this spring is the fact that home games will be split between Colchester and Augusta.
“It’s going to be a little different, but I’m excited for us,” said Bland. “We tried to split it up the best we could. It’s also nice for our Southeastern guys to make sure they get a little time on their field. There’s also some JV games there which is kind of nice, too. My favorite thing with this whole co-op is being able to now schedule JV games.”
The Cyclones have only four seniors on the squad this season and will rely heavily on a junior-laden class of talented returnees.
Senior Austin Nelson returns as the starting catcher and Bland is high on Nelson’s leadership as well.
“He’s always the first one here and he gets the field ready,” said Bland. “I like to see how he’s progressed as a catcher these last four years, too. He’s also a kid that you can put on the mound or put him at third and does whatever you tell him.”
The Cyclones’ pitching staff was expected to revolve around junior Matt Whitman who struck out 75 batters last season for West Prairie in just 30.2 innings. But, Whitman will be relegated to the DH role to start the season as he recovers from an arm injury.
Junior Braden Coplan also returns for the Cyclones to give Bland options on the mound, but Bland is also high on Southeastern junior Case Marlow along with freshmen Kash Lantz and Hunter Ramsey.
Bland is excited to see what he considers a good combination of team speed and the ability to hit for power with this year’s squad.
“What I really like about this team is that we do have a really good mixture of power and team speed,” said Bland. “There’s a lot of kids that I feel comfortable giving the steal sign to.”
“I expect Braden, Matt, and Nellie to keep growing as hitters from last season,” he added. “And I’m very intrigued to see how Marlow does and the freshman Kash Lantz from Southeastern. They’ve both got really good looking, high, powerful swings in practice.”
“Now, can we translate that into a game,” Bland continued. “Another couple of freshmen are Ivan Beck who’s got a very vicious swing along with Holden Coplan. Coplan is a kid I’ve coached since sixth grade. You put him at the top of the lineup he just seemed to always find a way to get on base.”
“We’re years ahead of where we were last year.” West Prairie/Southeastern will participate in the Prairieland Conference this season as a IHSA Class 1A program, but open the season against Class 2A foe “Watching the freshmen and some of the Southeastern kids play is what I’m most intrigued about,” said Bland.
