Wall baseball coach Jason Schniers eyes state title in farewell season
In Wall baseball coach Jason Schniers first year as an assistant in 2008, the Wall baseball program had 22 student-athletes and had not won a district championship in multiple years.
Fifteen years later, Wall has 45 to 50 students in the program, three junior varsity teams and a state championship in 2019.
In early March, Schniers decided to leave his position as Wall’s head baseball coach to pursue other opportunities. Schniers reassured his young team of sophomores and juniors he was just as committed to this team as any other team he has coached.
“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is tell this group of players, and these guys you know, I’m not gonna be back next year to be their coach,” Schniers said. “So, there’s definitely mixed emotions. From the day that I told them, you know, there’s still goals that we need to achieve and one of those goals is trying to reach the state tournament.”
After Schniers' one season as an assistant coach in 2008, he took over as head coach in 2009 and is in his 14th year. During that 14-year span, Schniers amassed 323 wins, nine district championships, two Class 3A state title appearances and a state championship in 2019.
But for Schniers, the team’s success has never been about him.
“I want what’s best for the kids,” Schniers said. “… My philosophy is, since I’ve started day one, is to make it about the kids and the kids are going to be the ones that need to get the most out of it all.”
Schniers philosophy paid off for plenty of athletes under his tutelage at Wall who went on to find success after their time in his program. Former state-championship MVP Luke Young was drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2022 and Caleb Heuertz, who is currently pitching for Angelo State and competing in the NCAA Division II World Series, both played on the 2019 championship team.
For Schniers, however, his focus remains on this year’s team and wading into unfamiliar territory with a young team that doesn’t feature any players that have made it past the regional semifinal.
After dropping the first game to Bushland 11-2 in the first game of the regional semifinal last week, Wall bounced back after making some adjustments and won the next game 7-4, to force a rubber match.
“I heard one of the kids say the other day in game two that this wasn’t gonna be the last game for coach,” Schniers said. “And I heard that and said, well, you’re not necessarily playing for me you’re playing for yourself. It’s about you.”
The Hawks carried the momentum from game two into game three, winning the defensive struggle 4-2 in a game that came down to a handful of crucial plays.“They didn’t want their season to be over and I explained to them, just the fact that ‘guys, if you want this to continue, we’ve got to play better than what we did in game one, you got to find a way whatever it takes,’” Schniers said.
With the Hawks best-of-three regional championship series against Brock starting on Thursday, the team has another opportunity to compete for a state championship with Schniers at the helm.
The series will take place at Abilene Christian University with the first game starting on Thursday at 7 p.m., game two will be Friday at 4 p.m. and the third game, if necessary, will take place on Saturday at 4 p.m.
“We’re still very young,” Schniers said. “I have a lot of youth and inexperience, so Brock’s got kids and returners and starters from two state tournament appearances from the last two years, so that could be a huge advantage for those guys. But our kids are not going to back down from any challenge and so we’re looking forward to the series.”
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Wall baseball's Jason Schniers eyes state title in farewell season
