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Jordan Guth hasn’t played hockey for three months. And he’s OK with that.
Guth is all about baseball. Has been since May 7, when he announced that he’d accepted a scholarship offer to play for NCAA Division I Milwaukee.
“I’m focused on one sport right now,” Guth said. “Last summer and the summer before that, I was still a three-sport athlete and I’d play hockey a lot. I probably haven’t touched the ice since March. I’m out here every day. I’m having fun, I’m not missing (hockey) too much. You can’t be thinking of that when you’re playing baseball.”
Guth was a Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association All-State honorable mention forward last winter after helping Onalaska to its first WIAA state tournament appearance since 1995.
He was second on the team with 52 points and assisted on Jordan Tredinnick’s overtime game-winner at Wisconsin Rapids in the sectional final.
But Guth, a 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher, is also a talented baseball player, and that left him with some serious thinking. He had opportunities to play junior hockey, and knew that colleges were also interested in him for baseball.
UW-Milwaukee’s coaching staff impressed him, and he decided to commit 100 percent to baseball and the Panthers program.
Guth pitched well in the spring — he threw a complete-game win over top-ranked Central in the sectionals — and is hoping to keep it up this summer with the Onalaska American Legion team.
“(The UW-M coaches) didn’t give me anything specific,” Guth said. “They want to come here and see me pitch a few more times; fortunately we’re on the same page as far as mechanics. They just want me to play a lot of baseball and stay healthy with my arm.”
Guth knows other teams are aware of his status as a Division I-bound pitcher.
“It’s kind of a little target on my back, but I’ve got to throw strikes and do my best out there,” Guth said. “I just want to stay competitive. I’m going to be facing Division I hitters next year, so I need the challenge, I need to be able to bear down.”
Guth is 2-0 in two starts this spring, including a complete-game shutout against the French Island North Stars.
“I mainly want him to have fun,” Onalaska coach Zeb Allert said. “It’s his last summer, his last time playing with this group of guys.”
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