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Jaguars’ Jahnz, Chirpich compete in all-star baseball series

TRUMAN — Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman’s Zach Jahnz had quite the weekend.

The weekend began June 22, when Jahnz participated in the Minnesota State High School League’s Clay Target individual state meet at the Minneapolis Gun Club in Prior Lake.

Then he went straight to Chaska Athletic Park in Chaska to join the Minnesota South baseball all-stars in the Minnesota High School All-Star Series.

Jahnz tied for sixth in the Clay Target tournament after hitting an impressive 99 targets out of 100. Jahnz’s baseball coach, Scott Chirpich, said Jahnz knew he would have to be perfect if he wanted to win on Friday.

“He had practice on Thursday (June 21) and I was talking to him and asked what he thought of his chances,” Chirpich said. “He said, ‘I think I’m gonna have to shoot 100 out of 100.’ I asked, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. This guy I shot with hit 75 in a row.’ I asked if he could do that and he said he probably could.

“He missed his fourth one and shot 99 out of 100 and got sixth. When he told me that, all I could say was, ‘What?’ He said there were a few guys who were perfect and a bunch that tied with him. Kudos to him for being able to do that and swing over and join the team.”

Sixth place was high enough for Jahnz to receive a medal. Right after the ceremony, he traveled to Chaska Athletic Park and joined the South team during the fourth inning of its Day-1 game.

Jahnz said participating in both events was fun, but it made for a packed weekend.

“It was a lot of things to push in, in one weekend,” Jahnz said. “I missed the first four innings of our first game on Friday because the individual shooting competition got pushed back an hour. I went straight from the medal ceremony over to Chaska as fast as I could.”

Jahnz earned his spot in the all-state series as a pitcher representing the Jaguars. Jahnz threw 29.1 innings, giving up only nine runs on 16 hits for a 2.16 ERA. Most impressively, Jahnz ended the season with 50 strikeouts, for an incredible 11.95 strikeout rate per seven innings.

In his only opportunity to pitch at the all-state series, Jahnz struck out the first three batters he faced and gave up only four hits in five innings of work. He ended with five strikeouts and no runs allowed.

“Competition is a lot harder when you go up there,” Jahnz said. “Everyone can hit. I did really well.”

Jahnz said he was happy with his performance throughout the year that earned him his spot on the all-star roster, but the highlight of his season came in his final game. He also said being part of the all-state series was something he’s wanted all year.

“I think I played pretty well throughout the year,” Jahnz said. “My batting got a lot better and my pitching was pretty good. The highlight of the year was definitely the last game when I hit my home run. It felt really good to be part of the all-state series, it was one of the things I was working for throughout the whole season trying to get there.”

Chirpich said Jahnz has progressed well year-to-year and a lot of his success comes from his love of pitching.

“He loves pitching and he’s done a great job of it,” said Chirpich, who joined his senior standout in the all-star series as an assistant coach for the South. “He’s been able to throw strikes, to challenge hitters and to be effectively wild to get hitters out. That’s been a big help to make him successful because sometimes he didn’t know where it was going and sometimes he was spot on. With high school hitters, that is a difficult thing for them to stand in the box and think, ‘I don’t know where this one might be going.'”

Jahnz also brought production for the Jaguars at the plate. He collected 23 hits for a .354 batting average, 25 RBIs and 10 runs scored on the season.

Chirpich said he was proud of Jahnz’s senior season and that he deserved to be with the all-star team.

“He had a great senior year and he did a great job up there with the all-star team,” Chirpich said. “Coming from a small school I think it meant a lot more to him than some of those guys coming from the big schools. He was able to get more looks and get talked about. For him to be able to do what he did and have the oppportunity to go up there and really enjoy it, I think he had a lot of fun and hopefully he’ll continue to get better.”

Jahnz agreed that the opportunity might have meant more to him than to some of his teammates in the series because of the size of the school and level of competition he is used to.

“Five of the kids on my team were from Rochester,” Jahnz said. “They see a lot better competition. They’re a lot better hitters than what I’m used to. Coming from down here, there’s competition, but not like that. You’re up against some of the best guys in Minnesota and it was really cool to get to compete with them.”

Along with making the all-star series, Jahnz received his third all-conference selection, third all-section selection and his first all-state selection. Next, he will move on to Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington, where he will join the Bluejay baseball team.

Chirpich was voted in as a coach for the South team in the all-star series as well. He said he was proud to be chosen by his peers to be part of such an important weekend.

“Just like every kid always wants to be an all-star, it’s not the same for coaches, but it’s an honor to be selected by your peers and have a chance to be part of a special weekend,” Chirpich said. “It was a lot of fun. It was very tiring, we had really long days, but I enjoyed it and I thank them for picking me to be one of the coaches. Hopefully, some time down the road I’ll get that opportunity again.”

Jahnz said having Chirpich with him at the series made it easier for him to adjust, especially showing up later than most of the guys.

“It helped having Chirpich there as my coach,” Jahnz said. “It made it a lot easier. Going in I only knew one of the other guys on the team, so before I got to know people I was hanging out with him a lot. I met a lot of cool guys, the whole team was cool. It was really something to remember.”

Although this was Scott Chirpich’s first time going to the all-star series, it was not the first time the Chirpich family was represented.

Scott’s brother, Spencer Chirpich, was part of the 2015 South All-Star team. Spencer Chirpich, who represented Fairmont High School, was part of the last to win the series for the South.

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