1 week Ago By Madeline Warren
ZUMBROTA — Growing up as a coach’s son, Hudson Ohm spent a good chunk of his childhood at the baseball field. His dad, Chuck Ohm, was the longtime coach for Zumbrota-Mazeppa until the now-junior pitcher/outfielder for the Cougars was in fourth grade. ADVERTISEMENT “I remember I did come here before every game,” Ohm said.
“Unfortunately, he kicked me out of the dugout, but that's OK. I still got to watch from behind the fence, which was cool. “So, yeah, it was always fun to see him coach.
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Coming down here and just playing the game I love when he was coaching just really kind of developed my love for the game.” Ohm has played baseball for so long that he doesn’t really remember when he first picked up a bat. He started taking the sport a bit more seriously during his freshman year and hit the weight room as a sophomore.
His dedication to baseball — specifically his pitching — caught the attention of the University of Minnesota . It’s where Ohm will play after he graduates next year. “I've loved baseball for my whole life,” Ohm said.
“(I had) kind of a late start to the weight room, but I mean, I'm happy with where I'm at now, and (there is) still a lot more work to be done.” Ohm joins a handful of his family members who played baseball at the next level, including his dad and older brother, Preston. Against last year's Section 1, Class 3A runner-up Stewartville on Thursday night, it was easy to see why the Gophers sought him out.
Ohm allowed no hits and struck out 14 in five innings pitched versus the Tigers. At bat, he went 1-for-3 with 1 RBI. Senior Owen Hoefs came in to relieve Ohm in the sixth inning and gave up just one hit.
ADVERTISEMENT The No. 7-ranked Cougars walked away with an 8-0 victory over Stewartville (0-2) backed by Ohm’s stellar performance, both on the mound and at the plate. “I thought the team showed great energy today, right from the first inning,” Ohm said.
“We just have to continue to show that every single game, day in and day out, and just keep working hard at practice. That's going to take us a long way. Just keep your heads down.
Keep working hard.” To keep in touch and prepare for his future arrival on campus, Ohm has monthly calls with the Minnesota coaching staff. “We just go over what I've been working on,” Ohm said.
“Whether that's pitch grip, sequencing — all that good stuff — and just making sure I'm just staying healthy. And I mean, it's a long season, so just taking it day by day and doing something each day that is going to benefit me down the road.” Z-M head coach AJ Yusten said Ohm “takes a lot of pride in his craft” and is an “easy” player to coach since he is pretty independent.
Yusten and the other Z-M coaches work to keep him healthy and set him up for success. “He shows up with a lot of the tools and a lot of the coaching that we like to see in guys,” Yusten said. “He has great intensity, so I don't really have to force that out of him.
He has great mechanics, which is great. ..
. When we do see little things, we'll try to tweak it. “But he's very good about knowing his body and knowing his mechanics and knowing what he needs to do.
And obviously he comes from a great family of baseball players and coaches and athletes, so he has a really good background there, too.” ADVERTISEMENT Now 3-0, the Cougars continue their road to return to the Section 1, Class 2A championship game and defend their title from last season. Even though it’s still early in the season, as long as Ohm is on the mound, they’ll be in good shape to make it back.
“We're off to a good start, but the schedule is going to get eventually harder as it goes,” Ohm said. “We have a stacked (Hiawatha Valley League schedule) this year, so what it comes down to is just working hard in practice each day and just take care of the small details and if we do that, we'll be in a good position come late May, early June.” Zumbrota-Mazeppa 8, Stewartville 0 Stewartville#000#000#0#—#0#1#3 Zumbrota-Mazeppa#013#031##—#8#11#1 Stewartville : Jayce Klug 1 SB; Ronnie Mitchell 1-for-3.
Pitchers: Brekken Horstmann 4.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Asher Paulson 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K.
Zumbrota-Mazeppa : Owen Hoefs 2-for-3, 3 RBI; Christian Holm 1 R; Tate Ness 1 R; Wilson Nordquist 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI; Jent Beyer 2 SB; Frank Flicek 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R; Hudson Ohm 1-for-3, 1 RBI. Pitchers: Owen Hoefs 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; Hudson Ohm 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 14 K..
