On a talented Glacier squad, super senior Zach Veneman stands out

Kevin Slaybaugh has been around baseball a long time, and he’s surrounded by like-minded players and coaches with the Glacier Twins.

Among his assistants is Rob Veneman; the two used to be Babe Ruth coaches together, before jumping into the American Legion program around 2008. Veneman, meanwhile, had three diamond-cut sons ready to turn singles into doubles, and the youngest recalled a time when he joined his two older brothers for the Twins’ fall ball season.

“I was 12 or 13,” Zach Veneman said, and it was a special time: The more informal fall program got all four Veneman men — Venemen — on Memorial Field, the picturesque ballpark cut into a Whitefish neighborhood, at the same time.

“That was the last time we were all able to play together,” said the Twins’ super-senior. “That was pretty cool. That was fun.”

The game is fun for Veneman, who is hitting .456 since returning to the Twins after a successful spring at Valley City State College in North Dakota. The Vikings saw him not only hit .315 but also strike out 12 hitters in 12 innings of work on the mound. They have decided Veneman, recruited as a catcher, is now a pitcher-outfielder.

Which isn’t surprising. Slaybaugh, in his second season as the Twins’ head coach, followed up his early season statement that Veneman could play every position by, in fact, using him at eight out of nine.

“I don’t think he’s played right field,” Slaybaugh said.

The Glacier Twins started the season a robust 10-5. Then they took a player who started playing T-ball at 2, a true Diaper Dandy, put him to the three-hole and have gone 28-6 since.

“I don’t remember it obviously,” Veneman says of his start in T-ball. “But my parents said I hit the ball farther than half the kids that were 6 or 7 years old.”

“He’s been around a long time,” said Slaybaugh. “We knew he was going to be good all along. Just a really good athlete.”

For the record, Veneman prefers pitching.

“It’s the control,” said the right-hander, who has a 1.47 earned-run average with the Twins. “It’s the most involved, obviously. It’s fun to challenge the batters and see how far you can get.”

“I miss catching a little bit. I still catch, but not nearly as much. When you pitch and catch, it’s hard to keep your arm in shape and not hurting all the time.”

Then he adds: “We have Dan (Dunn) now, and he can hold it down real well.”

Dunn sits in the lower half of a lineup that is top to bottom tough: He’s hitting .308, one of seven regulars hitting over .300. Veneman tops the list, followed by Stevyn Andrachick (.430) and Mason Peters (.386). Peters hits leadoff, and Andrachick hits second.

“Those two, I tell you, are two of the best kids to have in front of you,” Veneman said. “They both have over a .500 on-base percentage. At least one of them is on base when I get up there. They have great at-bats, and both arwe really talented ball players.”

Veneman, meanwhile, will take his walks, knowing that Jacob Polumbus (.324), Mikey Glass (.349) or George Robbins (.310) can pick up the RBI.

Still, Veneman is the leader, hitting to all fields with a tendency to the left-center gap according to his coach.

“When he showed up, it changed things,” said Slaybaugh, who also estimates Veneman throws in the mid-80s. “With a year of college baseball, he’s really refined his swing. And he just hits the ball with more power. He lifts and does the things he needs to do in college and that puts him at a level above.”

Three years ago the Glacier Twins were State A champions, with Ryan Veneman as tournament MVP. Two less successful seasons followed, including a 2-2 finish at last year’s tournament after they’d won the Western A Divisional.

Along the way, Zach Veneman felt a little discouraged.

“Junior year of high school,” he said. “I was trying to do the best I could and get into a good school. I kind of just lost sight of having fun in the sport.

“I kind of realized I was overthinking everything, and just decided I wasn’t going to do that anymore.”

Last August the Twins lost a couple leads late after starting the state tournament 2-0, finishing 35-21.

“It was a little disappointing for us, especially all the seniors,” Veneman said. “We had such a good year and a really talented team, ran through districts, got to state and everything just kind of fell apart.”

That was then: Lewistown hosted last year’s state tourney, and the Twins returned there in June and went 5-0 at the Gjerde Tournament. That was part of a win streak that reached 18 games before losses to AA-level teams at last weekend’s Keith Sell Tournament in Helena.

“They’re young. They’re real young,” Veneman said of the Twins. “I’m like 2 years older than everyone else on the team, but we’re really talented. I’m proud of how far they’ve come, and I’m excited about where they go. Some of them have four more years on the squad.”

Andrachick, an All-State pick along with Veneman a year ago, is just 15 for example. But as the Sapa-Johnsrud Tournament opens today in Whitefish, and the divisional and state tournaments loom, the super senior will be leaned on.

“He’s that guy,” Slaybaugh said. “He leads by example. Any big game, he’d be our guy.”

2021 Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament

July 8-11

Thursday

12:30 p.m. — Missoula Eagles vs. Spokane Cannons

3 p.m. — Spokane Expos vs. Spokane Crew

5:30 p.m. — Glacier Twins vs. Coeur d’Alene Lumbermen