GARY VANCLEAVE
Special to Hutch Post
HESSTON - Gunnar Lewis knew he wasn’t a DI baseball prospect coming out of Hesston High.
“I’m blessed, it hits you early in high school that you won’t be a DI out of high school kinda guy,” the recent Swather graduate said. “So I looked in to juco options early and Butler was always my favorite. I’m grateful and excited for this opportunity.”
The all-time hits leader at Hesston chose Butler this spring.
“My goal is to have two great years and find a home at a DI spot or a great DII,” Lewis said.
The Hesston middle infielder describes himself as quick and athletic.
“With a little power can hit a lot of doubles and have a couple leave the yard here and there,” he said. “Fast runner, aggressive on the bases and stretch singles to doubles and doubles to triples.”
He ripped a program-high 112 hits in his career.
“It means a lot to me,” Lewis said of the record. “Speaks volumes to being a consistent starter. I had a hit streak up to 29 games. Hesston is a young program and I’m excited to see who breaks the record.”
“Passionate, attention to detail, fierce, willing and wanting to win, big time,” Gunner Goalden said of Lewis.
Lewis batted .450 his senior season with 11 doubles, three triples and one home run. He started every varsity game in his career except for two because of covid. Lewis ended with a .400 career batting average with 23 doubles, 11 triples and three homers.
“I would describe Gunnar Lewis as a great teammate,” Keldon Lange said. “He motivated me to work hard in practice when we would do running or a team competition. He would make sure to be the one leading and to encourage his teammates a lot. He’s a great person, too.”
“I’ve always worked to better my craft,” Lewis said. “I’ve had a great hitting coach the last couple years who has really carried me to where I am today. Staying motivated and trying to love the journey instead of always thinking about the destination.”
“Gunnar always makes the game fun and loose on the field and in the dugout,” summer league teammate Logan Renken of Little River said. “One of the best gap to gap hitters I have played with and he just seems to never get out. He is never tight or pressed about a situation and I think he is going to do big things at the next level.”
His Swather teammates mentioned Lewis and the positivity he maintained.
“He’s a great person to his teammates and he helped us out so that we would succeed and achieve new things,” Lange said. “In JV he helped a lot of us work on things to get to the varsity level also so I would describe him as a great player.”
“Gunnar is and always has been a great leader. Whenever something goes wrong instead of being negative he always stays positive and encourages everyone to keep working hard,” Josh Koehn said.
“Gunnar since freshman year has always been one of our main guys to lead the team,” Layne Clark said. “His passion for the game always helped fuel the energy in the dugout and on the field.”
Lewis said the middle school self would be a little surprised how he’s turned out.
“High school me grew a lot and got a lot bigger. The height and weight difference from eighth grade to my senior year is about 10 inches and around 75 pounds,” said the current 6-foot, 180-pound Lewis. “I switched from second base to shortstop my sophomore year because of how much stronger my arm got. And I finally found power in my bat in high school which I never had.”
“He’s a hard working teammate who puts his body on the line for the team and is also a great friend,” summer teammate Sam Soderstrom said.
“He makes all the plays you need an infielder to make and can range both ways to give you a show at third,” Renken said.
His Swathers reached the state tournament twice in Lewis’ four years.
“I had always dreamed of winning a state championship but unfortunately it never happened,” Lewis said. “Individually I received all league honors three times and was second team all state this last season. I am very grateful to have received these awards.”
“He was a good high school player because he was a leader,” Goalden noted. “And he wanted to make him and his team better everyday.”
“He could become a great and amazing player in college if he decides to do the right thing at all times,” Lange said. “He would get along with a lot of people and be an amazing player.”
Lewis hopes his legacy has been established for future Swather stars to follow.
“It being a young program I just want to be a good first step in things to come,” Lewis said. “A lot of middle schoolers and younger kids came to games and I hope some of those diving plays or great hits I may have had made them interested in baseball and I hope they can keep the Hesston Baseball Program respectable.”