BEATRICE, Neb. - The Beatrice Orangemen have become a powerhouse and a mainstay at the state tournament, especially since their state championship season in 2021.

With a mix of young talent and veteran experience, it creates an interesting mix for Head Coach Zach Decker. The Orangemen are zeroing in on fundamentals for success in the 2025 season.

“These first couple games coming out here are going to be really about giving these young guys a chance here coming out ad then taking the hot hand after that,” Decker said.

Among those new faces include four from the Diller-Odell area, as the Orangemen and Griffins co-op for the first time this season.

Decker says one of Beatrice’s most crucial needs this year is consistently throwing strikes. While the Orangemen may have a large group of young talent, senior Kale Koch is a leader for the Orangemen and a three-year starter.

“Definitely leaning on the top few arms, I think our top 3-4 arms can go out and  competing with anybody,” Koch said. “We also will have to rely on some of the younger talent in the order and 6-9 in the order is going to have to get a lot done.”

Another three-year starter is junior Austin Baldwin. Spending the entirety of his career on varsity is something he believes will benefit him.


“Being at the varsity level for this amount of time is an advantage, I’d say,” Baldwin said. “I think by playing my role, which is, get on base, drive in runs, it’s played a big role in my high school career.”

Beatrice has made it to state each year since that magical run in 2021, and hoisting the crown again, remains the goal.

“That’s always the mindset,” Decker said. “You can say ‘we want to make it to a district final’ or ‘we want to make state’, your mindset is to go win the whole thing. Why think anything different? I’ve said that for a few years now, but what it’s going to come down to is them coming together and understanding what we want to do offensively.”

“We’ve made that a pretty steady tradition here each and every year, so we for sure want to make a run at that and get a lot of wins,” Koch said.

Beatrice kicks off the year this Thursday at Auburn, before visiting defending state champion Norris on Saturday.. All weather permitting.