The top-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s baseball team recorded their first win of the season with an 11-3 win over Hinton on Wednesday night, but it was a milestone win for their head coach. The win marked the 500th in the long coaching career of head coach Dean Harpenau.
Harpenau has been the head coach of a high school baseball team for nearly a quarter of a century meaning he has seen some baseball in his time. He also has been around some great people in that time, and he credits them for making him the coach he is.
Specifically at Remsen St. Mary’s, the baseball program has had three coaches over its history that have won over 500 career games. Those coaches include Marv Thelen finished his career at RSM with 687, and Jim Wesselmann wrapped his career with 661. Harpenau also got some early reps as an assistant under former Gehlen Catholic coach Marty Kurth who won 522 games as head coach of the Jays. He says all three men played a huge role in his development.
Of those 500 wins, two of them have been state championships with Harpenau at the helm. Harpenau says the 2016 team was extra special in the fact that he got to coach his son to the top of the Iowa baseball ladder.
That 2016 team has some interesting parallels with this year’s team already. The 2016 team lost their season opener just like this year’s team before going on a run to the state title. Coach Harpenau says that prepared his team for a deep run in the postseason.
The Remsen St. Mary’s baseball culture teaches you how to play the game the right way. Coach Harpenau says that the game they teach you at RSM is more than just the sport of baseball.
The Hawks got back on the right track with the win and are now looking to stay on track with some tough matchups coming up. Coach Harpenau says he is looking for some consistency from his guys in the coming days.
Remsen St. Mary’s returns to action on Friday when they take on Akron-Westfield in Remsen. First pitch is slated for 7:30 PM.
