Coaches Corner for July 27th: Charlie Eastlund, Boone Baseball

With us on coaches corner, KWBG, got a chance to put a wrap on the 2026 Boone baseball season. Head coach Charlie Eastland joining us, Torridors, with another really fantastic season. Season ended at that sub-state. And you always want to go as far as you can and have your season go as long as it can. And Charlie, I guess I'm going to take you back because it took a while for you guys to get your season going. But once you got a little bit of continuity, it felt like this team did do what we saw what they did at finishing at sub-state. Yeah, we had our awards banquet just a week ago, Monday. And it's one of those things that I just praised our guys for how quickly they came together as a team. That first night out against Des Moines Christian, it just felt like, man, we're back right away with a bunch of new faces in different positions and things like that to start off the season and just ready to compete right away. And that was such a fun first night out. And the next night was another great one as well against Norwalk. And just praise them for how quickly they came together as a team, the way our seniors brought along, our young guys who were inexperienced and were getting their first shot at varsity baseball. I told people, going through post-season award voting and things like that, I'd never been happier to see who they're voting for for like our leadership positions, right? And just talking about how encouraging they were to them as a player and the amount of times I read the word encouragement when they described why this person should win this award was something that I was just so happy to read. Charlie, I know we're talking baseball here, but we're also talking men and young men at some point too that, you know, we want to take these guys and we want them to be good dads and good this and the community and this someday and husbands and this and that. I know that's something you take pride in. That probably felt pretty good to read those when you talk about encouragement because that's not just baseball, that's some other stuff too. Yeah, for sure, right? And I've always talked about the very beginning of the year we do a player parent meeting and you know, how this game of baseball can parallel life in certain ways. And yeah, that's the thing. If the thing's all about baseball, we're kind of missing it here. And that's always been an important piece too. To what we do here at Boone Baseball is just how we treat each other and being a good teammate definitely correlates to how they're gonna act some day out there in the real world and how good of a husband, father, employee, boss and all those things that they can be. Charlie, with the Raccoon River Conference I've always felt like there's never a team that's gonna go on one of those 13 game winning streaks during the season. You're gonna see a lot of teams go on four and five game winning streaks. And if you do that, I think you got a chance to be successful. It's funny, I was just looking at your schedule last night just to kind of refresh myself on what happened at the beginning of the year. Charlie, you guys did that. I think there was quite a few. There was at least three, I think four game winning streaks, a couple of three game winning streaks in there. I mean, kind of what you expect with a season where you win almost 20 games. Yeah, yep. We're close to it, you know, real close to getting to 20. That's always kind of, I won't really talk about games when being a goal, but it's definitely a benchmark if that makes sense and we're real close there to it. But that is the neat thing about playing in a tough schedule like we do. You got a shot if you play well to go on those short winning streaks for five games at a time, but you're always gonna run into some buzz saw there that brings you back down to earth and humbles you real quick. And that keeps you motivated throughout the year to know that, hey, we gotta keep doing this. We gotta get better at this. We gotta get better at that. And, you know, there's never nothing you can just show up and think you're gonna roll through someone that just doesn't happen. You had a pitching staff this year, Charlie, that was an experience and I think that's being nice to say just kids that didn't have meaningful varsity innings last year, but they were doing something that you and I would talk about off air quite a bit and you would say, hey, I think the JV team, and we don't talk JV a ton on the air just because we just don't have time to do all the JV, but man, oh man, you were pretty impressed with what the JV program put together. You told me in the off season, these kids worked. You said don't be surprised at this pitching staff surprises. Coach, and under fours, you know, ERA this year for a staff that didn't have a lot of varsity innings, you gotta be pretty pleased with what these kids put together. Yeah, definitely was. That was an absolute highlight of our season is how well our guys pitched it throughout the year and the depth that we had that way. And we got a lot of guys out there on the mound. And, you know, we weren't able to early just because of the schedule, the rainouts and things like that that came our way. But we were ready to go once we got into that five game week that we played. And then the sixth game week right after that because we were prepared. And I try to place importance on these JV games that they mean a lot to me like we keep quality pitch stats. We keep quality at bat stats. We keep a score book and have individual stats that way. And we use those things to make decisions. And every single year, year in, year out, like someone's gonna play really well in those JV games and they're gonna force their way into a varsity lineup. And that's the way it should be. Like you want a team to be competitive, you know, with each other for positions. That's what keeps everyone sharp. And that's what develops good baseball teams. But yeah, starting way back in January and February, you know, going twice a week, throwing with our guys. You could tell that there was a lot of potential there. And we as a baseball staff had a lot of help from others as well. Ryan Mormon, Morgan Smith, Matthew Mills, all very good pitching backgrounds come in in January and help us out with our off season work that way. And it is very helpful for us this season. 283 team batting average as well, coach. Tice Carlson leads you in hits this past summer. He just had a fantastic junior year. Levi and Noah, obviously what they were doing at the top of the order. Noah Gorman as well. Don't think I didn't see what that young freshman was doing this past summer. Coach, you lost some real good kids from last year. You plugged them in some kids that maybe we didn't see in prominent roles this year. What did you think about approaches at the plate this summer? Yeah, hitting is always something that's going to... It's tough, right? So we faced a lot of really good pitching, but boy, one, two, three in our order. And then you put a freshman there at the four hole that it was pretty solid for us all year. And Tice is a guy that we've talked about before, how much he loves to hit. He hits all the time. And just often to see a guy who puts in that much work outside of what we do as a team, reap the benefits of that. And that's what lead our team and hits. And Noah Davies has been in our lineup for five years in a row, right? I think it's very first high school baseball game, sorry, varsity baseball game, we'll put it that way. We're starting in Los Angeles with the lead off hitter as an eighth grader, you know? And not too many eighth graders leading off for a 3A team in the Rocking River Conference. And boy, he does as steady as it gets. And he's working his way to hit a double every time enough, but if he ends up having a walk, he's going to turn that thing into a double real quick with the speed and stay on second base. So Baylor with a great season and just so happy for him because that's another guy who's put in a ton of work outside of what we do as a baseball team. And that's really what it takes. If you want to hit well, then it's got to be done more than just what we offer. You have to go out and do things on your own if you're going to be good at this. It's funny, Charlie, because I remember, you know, you guys, I swear, go through ceremonies when it comes to your senior nights that I swear we need to start these suckers at about 6.30. You've got enough kids that it always seems like we're out there forever and I love to see that. I didn't think this was going to be that big of a senior class. And then all of a sudden, as the kids are starting to go through the year, I'm like, shoot, this is going to be a decent size senior class as well. Charlie, great senior class once again. It has come and gone through Boone Baseball. Yeah, definitely, right. And so a year ago, the 25 season, right, we had six juniors out. And the next year in the 26 season, we got 16 years. So we're able to retain everyone. They all want to be a part of it and do what they can. And yeah, awesome, awesome group. Six guys said that we had, you know, and the leadership that they provided and the encouragement that they gave to our younger guys made them just a really special group that way. Very much appreciate them. Well, you've got a senior class that I think I'll probably tell you this every year, but obviously tough to have kids step into their shoes. But somebody will have to just because we don't just stop playing baseball because we lose a great senior class. Coach, you've got some good youth that is going to be coming up. I'm sure there's going to be that next kid that will surprise me as well. I know we're taking a little time to enjoy our family and maybe not think too much about baseball. But Charlie, I know it's always in the back of your mind. You've got to be excited for offseason work with some of these youngsters. Yeah, definitely. You know, time away is a good thing as well, but you know, it's something that you always look forward to. You know, our guys, they'll fill out some postseason eval sheets, and it's always interesting to think or to take a look at what our players think next year could potentially look like, right? And they fill out individual goals for themselves and team goals for themselves. And it's always a neat thing to kind of look through and to see, all right, this is what they want out of next year. And then, you know, but what's it going to take for us to reach those goals that they have down on paper, right? There's a lot of action that needs to take place between now and then. And it seems like a long time, right? But it does start now. And you've got to go to work on those things and work hard daily to achieve what you want to achieve. Charlie, last thing for me. And I know you can't thank these guys enough, but I know you also really appreciate it. And you guys have had a staff together that feels like it's becoming a veteran staff. And I know they'll hate for me to call them veterans, but let's be honest, they've been with you for all the wars and the good and the bad and everything in between. And you just got a great group of guys that help you out in that dugout, don't you? Yeah, we really do. And the funny thing is, yeah, we've done it together long enough that we're starting to become some of the older guys now. And I guess that's a neat thing, right? But yeah, Ryan Titman's been with us since he was just a college student. And Scott Peasley the entire way. And Quentin has been with us now for years in a row that you almost forget that he was a former player as recently as 2021. And man, they all care about it so much. And it just makes it a lot of fun to go out there and do that together with them and just really appreciate all that they do and what they offer to our program. Charlie, thank you again for a great summer. It's always fun to talk baseball with you. I always feel like I learn stuff when we're talking on the air, off the air. But thanks for another great summer. And we'll look forward to talking with you again coming up next summer. Yeah, thanks for covering us, Ryan. Really appreciate it. You bet. Charlie Eason again joining us. Boone Baseball here on Coaches Corner.