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Wieseler family fills out line-up for the Wynot baseball team
WYNOT — In northeast Nebraska, if you want to continue your career in baseball, you join an amateur/town team and you probably have two choices, Wynot or Crofton.
Now, if you’ve never been to Wynot, you probably don’t know that a lot of the names are the same. Not the first names, but the last names.
Heimes, Sudbeck, Pinkelman...they all come to mind, but Wieseler, another relatively uncommon name, is the heart and soul of the Wynot Expos, who play in the South Central League in Class B of amateur baseball in South Dakota.
There are five Wieselers on Wynot’s team this season, Carson, Colin, Jalen, Landon and Nate. Four of them are the sons of Steve and Tammy Wieseler.
Clair Wieseler, the dad of Carson, had an idea earlier in the summer.
“I played for the Expos and thought it would really be cool if we could have a game where we put nine Wieselers on the field at the same time,” said Clair. “I called Lee (Heimes) and he said that would be really cool, we just needed to find the right time.”
Steve Wieseler, the girls’ basketball coach at Wynot High School had five of the players, besides himself, and although he could hardly run due to a farming accident which saw him tear a hamstring, he was ready to play.
“ I knew I had to play catcher. It was what I played all the years I played baseball for Wynot," Steve said. "Well, really not all I played. I think I played every position on the field, but I couldn't run and was happy to do what I could. It turned out to be a lot of fun and brought up some great memories."
He also hinted, the return to the field may have ignited a spark to return.
“Back when I was playing, I always thought I had more important things to do, but once I got to the games, it was just too much fun," Steve said. "After this, I really would like to play again. I know it won’t happen, but I really had a lot of fun putting the stu on again and getting out there."
Clair Wieseler pro- vided two of the players and himself as the third to make nine.
Trystan Wieseler (Steve's son) led o and played second base; Steve played catcher and bat- ted second; Clair played right field and batted third; Carson (Steve’s son) played third and batted clean up; Landon (Steve's son) played first base and batted fifth; Jalen (Steve’s son) played shortstop and batted sixth; Peyton (Steve’s son) was the starting pitcher and batted seventh; Nate (Clair's son) played left field and batted eighth and Colin (Clair's son) played center field and batted ninth.
"I only played one inning and batted once," said Steve. “There were younger guys in the dugout who deserved to play, they have been with the team all summer and were looking forward to getting some playing time." It was a non-league game, but if you put on that blue uniform, you still play to win.
"It's not to say this wasn't an important game," said Heimes. “We just thought it would be neat to start them all and then get some of our regular players in the game as it went on."
As it turned out, the game was rained out in the fourth inning so not enough innings to make it an o$cial game.
By the way, the Parkston Devil Rays were the opponent in the game.
The two dads both agreed, the sons have become great friends over the years.
“Nate and Landon were roommates in college and are about inseparable and Colin and Carson hang around together all the time," said Steve. "They are like brothers and they’ve all been around each other over the years."
And the younger Wieselers were pretty happy with the accomplishment as well.
“It was pretty cool to have us all in there," said Jalen Wieseler.
“In a small town, the local team is what a lot of the town is talking about, and it is in Wynot for sure. It was great to play with my dad and the other Wieselers one more time." The event was reminiscent of a Feb. 11, 1975 basket ball game when Cedar Catholic High School coach Gary Dunn started all five of Gene and Jeannette Wieseler's sons in a varsity basketball game for Cedar Catholic.
Coach Dunn put Gary Wieseler, senior; Larry Wieseler, junior; Rick Wieseler, sophomore; Roger Wieseler, Sophomore; and Danny Wieseler, Freshmen; in the starting lineup for Cedar Catholic High School against Plainview High School.
