2023 Class A State Champions and 2024 State Runner-Ups– what State title will the Lincoln East Baseball team win this 2025 season? With the Spartan’s impressive 27-3 regular season record, it will be interesting to see how this talented team tackles their post season. The State Tournament this year is scheduled for May 16-23 at the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Tal Anderson Field, as well as Werner Park in Papillion, Nebraska.
This season has been one filled with different obstacles for the Spartans. After losing 14 seniors from last year, the team had to rebuild a new team chemistry, and previous players had to step up into leadership positions.
“As a coaching staff, we knew we had great seniors and great leadership and they have done an amazing job of teaching the younger and new guys how we do things at East,” head coach Mychal Lanik said. “Our player leadership is what sets this team apart from many teams I have been a part of. There is a group of guys who have played in tons of games for East high. Big games, state championship games– that know what it takes to be successful and they have done a great job of bringing the other guys with them on the journey.”
One big obstacle for the team has been finding new players to step up on the mound for the Spartans after five of the main pitchers from the class of 2024 graduated and went on to play college baseball. These seniors include: Carter Mick (UNO), Paul Shortridge (Grimmel College), Thomas Fraley (Emporia State), Chase Nelson (St. Thomas University), and Connor Johnson (Southeast CC).
“The number one thing we had to do this year was to develop some pitching depth,” Lanik said. “We graduated 92% of our total innings pitched from last year so finding guys to step up and replace those innings was the biggest challenge if we were going to be a competitive team. Guys like sophomore Kalai Larsen, juniors Santino Arranaga, Greyson Bjorkman, and Trevor Roach, and seniors Isaac Bourges, Lewis Cockle, Jack Ohler and Joey Senstock have really stepped up and filled in so nicely on the mound.”
Due to the competitive culture at East, it was obvious what the new pitchers had to live up to.
“Everybody at East just wants to win and shows their best effort to do that,” junior and pitcher, Greyson Bjorkman, said. “We obviously had to be better than what we were last year, so we stepped up and filled the pitching roles.”
Spring baseball season is a busy time for the players, with the team sometimes playing seven games in one week. The season goes from the beginning of March to the end of the school year. This gives the players a lot of time with each other, and lots of opportunity to improve and reach for the goal of another state championship.
“I really enjoy the presence of our team at practice and the willingness they have to continue to seek improvement,” Lanik said. “We always talk about the importance of handling success and these guys have done a nice job of staying level and knowing our biggest tests still remain.”
Speaking of biggest tests, the top competition this year in the 2025 State Tournament for East looks to be the Millard West Wildcats, and the Papio-La Vista South Titans. Millard West has played East two years in a row in the championship. The Wildcats have a record of 20-11 and are looking to make it far again at state. Papio South is currently 22-8 and ranked pretty high, they are on track to make some noise in the tournament as well.
The Spartans will play their first district game on Friday, May 9. There is no doubt that the Spartans will have an exciting and electric rest of their post season. Only time will tell if this is the year for another state baseball title for Lincoln East.
