Photo courtesy of The Canby News: The 2026 Canby baseball team consists of Ben Drietz, Brennan Giese, Cash Antony, Cody Stoll, Cooper Pesek, Dylan Namken, Dyllon Christianson, Hunter Kack, Jace Rangaard, Jace Sigler, Jake Midtaune, Landon Meyer-Thovson, Matthew Zitzman, Morgen Tol, Will Abrahamson and Wyatt Hentes.

CANBY — Already making positive strides of improvement from a year prior, the Canby baseball team has a handful of significant role players returning for the 2026 season in hopes of coming out with a winning record.

Through the Lancers first four games and a 4-1 start to this season, they are already on pace to finish with an improved record from their 5-9 overall 2025 campaign. Canby has come out with a determined mindset to build on its early momentum, ultimately with hopes of making moves in the postseason.

“We want to win a playoff game. It’s been a long time since Canby as a program, even before my time, where we won a play off game and got to work into that tournament where it becomes double elimination after the first round. So, that’s ultimately our goal,” head coach Nick Kockelman said. “If we can win that first game and just get a bunch of momentum, we can ride that through. We got some big games in the next couple weeks here against other teams that have gotten off to good starts. So, hopefully we can use that as a measuring stick to see where we’re at.”

Canby was eliminated last year in the Section 3A North subsection first round by Lac qui Parle Valley.

Particularily, Morgen Tol and Jace Rangaard are off the strong starts on the mound for the Lancers to start this season, both of whom got significant playing time last year as well.

“We’ve known [that] Jace pitched quite a bit last year, Morgen a little less. But, for Morgen to come up and be throwing the way he is, is awesome for the team,” Kockelman said. “To have two or three good pitchers helps quite a bit in the regular season, and especially in the postseason.”

Last season, Rangaard led the team with 29 innings pitching with a team-best 3.341 ERA and 1.466 WHIP, and had 16 strikeouts. So far this season through the Lancers’ first five games, Rangaard has 18 innings on the mound with 16 strikeouts and a 2.291 ERA, showcasing positive improvement.

Rangaard shared a majority of the pitching duties last year with now-graduated Eli Greenman. Greenman also had 29 innings on the mound with a team-high 20 strikeouts, along with a 6.135 ERA and 2.191 WHIP.

Tol built some good experience as well last year, and followed with 15 innings pitched, 15 strikeouts, a 7.467 ERA and 2.400 WHIP. Also through the Lancers’ first five games this season, he has pitched for 14 innings with 19 strikeouts and a 2.000, also showing improvement alongside Rangaard.

After losing its season opener 5-0 to Wabasso this year, Canby quickly flipped the script by winning its next four straight, three of which have been won by at least seven runs.

“I think we are off to a great start. In the first game, we were a little bit slow on the hitting, which always takes some time to get up to speed some years, but since then, we’ve scored eight-plus runs in three-straight games,” Kockelman said. “Morgen Tol and Jace Rangaard have been doing a great job on the mound. We’ve only had to have one inning of relief in the first four games, so they’re doing a good job keeping their pitch down, counts low and being really efficient on the mound.”

The Lancers have also returned a lot of strength in its batting lineup, who have had strong starts to the season as well.

Will Abrahamson, Cody Stoll and Jace Sigler are three key offensive players, with Canby having additional depth such as Cash Antony, Ben Drietz, Matthew Zitzman and Rangaard. Tol also has a homerun in the season’s early start as well.

Last season, Abrahamson led the team with a .378 batting average and 17 hits, along with six RBIs. Sigler followed with a .347 average, 17 hits and a team-high nine RBIs, while Stoll was the third Lancer to hold an above .300 average at .302, with 13 hits and seven RBIs.

Abrahamson, Antony and Sigler have gotten off to big offensive starts this season, again with other Lancers already making other significant contributions.

Through the first five games, Abrahamson and Antony have seven hits apiece with a .467 average, and Sigler has six hits on a .375 average.

“Going into the year, we knew we had seven guys that have started varsity baseball, we have a good group coming back. At the top of the lineup, Cash Antony, he’s doing a great job. Will Abrahamson, shortstop, very versatile player offensively. Then Jace Sigler, this is his fourth year on varsity and has been over .300 every year, so he’s done a great job,” Kockelman said. “Jace Rangaard is batting in the middle of the order. Morgen Tol hit a home run last week, trying to get his bat woke up a little bit, that helps. Then, we have some sophomores that are playing … We got guys that are contributing all over.”

With already closing in on surpassing its total number of wins a season ago, Canby hopes to have a big season of growth and success, with its eyes set on the postseason.