MILWAUKEE- After leading the Milwaukee Madison Knights junior varsity baseball team to 10 wins last season, coach Cory McEwen looks to continue winning just at the varsity level.

McEwen had previously coached at Onalaska High School before applying for the coaching position at Madison. He now teaches Health Education at Milwaukee Northwest.

"Teaching at Northwest High School really helped out a lot when I applied for the position," said McEwen in an e-mail. Milwaukee Public Schools teachers receive priority when applying for coaching positions within the school district.

There is a growing trend amongst MPS schools and baseball. Schools do not have enough kids to make up their own individual team, therefore a co-op is reached with other schools to make one team.

Madison co-ops with Northwest along with Milwaukee School of Languages and Milwaukee Marshall, which you can imagine could cause more problems then your average high school baseball team.

"I face a lot of challenges with co-op with three other schools,” said McEwen. “For instance, the buses for each school might not be on time. I am only at Northwest teaching so it's truly very tricky getting all the players on the same page when it comes to getting to practices and games."

The Knights’ varsity roster includes six players from School of Languages, six from Marshall, two from Northwest and just one from Madison.

McEwen plans on turning Madison into a consistent winning program in the City Conference Blue Division. The Blue Division consists of Milwaukee Custer, Milwaukee Washington, Milwaukee Vincent and Wisconsin Conservatory of Life Long Learning.

Milwaukee Pulaski-Arts won the Blue Division last year but has been promoted to the Gold Division with the likes of Milwaukee King and Milwaukee Hamilton.

"I plan on building a winning tradition at Madison High School by putting lots of extra hours on the field and in practices with the players working on fundamentals of the game,” said McEwen.

"With my high energy and enthusiasm I will start turning the program in the correct direction soon."

McEwen and his fellow assistants play in the Milwaukee Baseball League in the summer which they are the defending champs. So it is safe to say he knows what it takes to be a winner.
Stephen Sayles is the Knights team captain and lone Madison representative but he is fine with that.

"Being the only player is actually exciting and an honor to carry on the Madison name and keep the team alive for an exciting season,” said Sayles.

Sayles, a lefty-swinging outfielder, will be playing with nine underclassmen this year but already some of them are showing they can play at the varsity level.

“As the captain of the team it is my job to lead them and its great for them to have somebody to look up to them as underclassmen," said Sayles.

Freshman shortstop Isaiah Lucas-Remmell is already batting an impressive .375 with four runs batted in. Lucas-Remmell is also a pitcher for the Knights.

Besides Lucas-Remmell the Knights have a trio of freshman who have seen significant time. Second Basemen Ryan Chase showed he belongs at the varsity level after he knocked in a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against a talented Milwaukee Bradley Tech team.

Utility player Julius Jett and first basemen Brandon Myer have both seen a lot of playing time and will continue to do so as the season progresses.

The Knights play a tough non-conference schedule this season including Milwaukee Lutheran, Shoreland Lutheran and Ozaukee.

"The only thing I need to accomplish my goal of success and earning lots of victories coaching is the continuing support of fellow students and staff at each of the schools where my team co-ops," said McEwen.