Photo submitted by Cory Rezac: (left to right) First Row: Aiden Caranza, Luke Hansen, Jaxon Matheson, Aiden Baca, Easton Hastings, Sam Kirkegaard, Jake Ernster. Second Row: Castor Kollasch, Max Heinen, Colin Kruse, Donnie Stevens, Gabe Whaley, Lane Engelby, Noah Campbell, Head Coach Cory Rezac. Third Row: Assistant Coach Preston Crees, Max Merrill, Cole Niconson, Cooper Hoye, Wiley Stevens, Liam Eischen, Dyson Wikert, Casey Rezac

BANCROFT – Cory Rezac is now the frontman of the North Union baseball program. After coaching a majority of this season’s roster through Little League and travel baseball experiences, Rezac’s new goal is to push the Warriors back to their winning ways.

North Union concluded the previous summer with an 8-14 record after its opening-round IHSAA 1A Substate 2 loss to GTRA. One of the biggest keys, Cory Rezac thinks, can add a few more wins is limiting errors.

Last year, the Warriors had 58 fielding mishaps, which ultimately led to over 60 unearned runs over the course of their 22 games. Limiting these mistakes could have changed the season’s eventual outcome.

“We had a definite problem with eros last year, especially in certain games we let slip away,” Cory Rezac said. “We definitely could’ve won a few more games if we minimized those mistakes.”

But the luxury he and assistant coach Preston Crees have is the return of many faces from last year’s roster. Individuals who have garnered previous varsity experience and are looking to develop even further in 2026.

It starts with the offense. Three of North Union’s top hitters bring the batting order immediate life at the plate. Max Merrill is the obvious standout after his fantastic sophomore campaign, in which he led the Warriors in batting average (.324), RBIs (18), and OPS (.851).

Casey Rezac (.279 BA) and Cole Nicoson (.260 BA) add depth to Cory Rezac’s lineup. The two had over .400 on-base percentages after drawing a combined 26 free bases.

This is the mantra North Union wants to play with this season. Cory Rezac wants to see his team play a form of small ball to apply pressure on opposing defenses; drawing walks, stealing bases and constantly moving runners into scoring position.

“We want to utilize the bunt and steal a little more. I want us to be a bit more aggressive on the bases,” Cory Rezac said. “We have a lot of kids who spent a lot of time over the winter working on their hitting.”

“Max Merrill has been the three-hole hitter since his freshman year. Cole [Nicoson] is a very solid clean-up, and even towards the bottom, we have a lot of guys that can make contact and get on.”

The Warriors also bring back over 70 innings of experience to this year’s pitching staff. Cooper Hoye (3.09 ERA), Wiley Stevens (5.25 ERA) and Merrill (6.18 ERA) logged the most pitches from a year prior, but Cory Rezac believes the group’s overall depth will help them greatly throughout the ensuing months.

The main factor in helping these arms shine is playing sound defense behind them, which Cory Rezac believes is possible.

“Pitch count is everything. It’s super important,” Cory Rezac said. “But we do have a good amount of pitchers. I’m pretty excited and think we will have a pretty good defense behind them. We have to minimize the errors, so we aren’t giving teams two, three, four extra outs an inning.”