Baseball seniors honored

When the three seniors from the Minneota baseball team were asked to meet at the ballfield on Thursday evening, they had no idea what to expect.
After Grady Moorse, Cole Sanow and Tate Walerius all arrived at the field, coaches Keven Larson and J.D. Pesch presented each of them with a banner with a large action photo of them playing for the Vikings in a game from their junior year.
Local photographer Brian Jeremiason, who took the photos at games last season, put the  3’ by 4’ banners together for the coaches.
“I took the game photos I had of each of the players and added some layers in photoshop to add a little flair to them,” Jeremiason explained.  
Larson said the coaches wanted to do something special for the players who have had to forego their senior year on the diamond because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So they chose a day that would work for everyone before anyone held their graduation party.
“We just asked them to stop down at the field because we had a little something for them,” Larson explained. “They didn’t know what we were giving them, though. They all thought it was pretty cool.”
The original plan was for the banners to be hung up behind the dugout for every home game this spring. But since the season was wiped out, the coaches decided to give the three seniors the banners as a gift that they can use for their graduation parties or just to have as a remembrance of the many years they have been playing baseball in Minneota.
“We feel bad for them missing out on so many things this year,” said Larson. “But we talked about doing something for them even before this (pandemic). We try to do something for the seniors every year.”
The three seniors have been on the varsity for three seasons. Moorse was a pitcher/first baseman; Sanow a pitcher/outfielder; and Walerius a pitcher/outfielder.
“They started playing in elementary school and played all through junior high and high school, and even in summer ball,” Larson said. “This was our way of thanking them for their efforts over all those years.”