TANNER ZUBER
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
One of the toughest things for a coach to do is coach his son. It doesn’t matter the sport because no matter his kid does there will be a perception that the only reason he is playing is because he’s the son of the coach.
“It’s tough,” agreed Klahowya baseball coach Dan Zuber, who is coaching not one but two of his sons – Tanner, a senior, and Dylan, a sophomore. “One of the things by brother (Tom, who won a state 2A baseball title in 2013 with W. F. West, told me years ago is ‘The hardest thing you will do is coach your son, and one of the most rewarding things you will do is coach your son.’
“He is right on half of that. Tanner has made it easy for me. He’s been very coachable.”
Tanner starts at shortstop for the unbeaten Eagles (12-0), the top ranked 1A team in the state. Dylan waits his turn to be a regular and sees spot action in the outfield from the bench.
It is Tanner who has been rewarded with a lot of extra work in the weight room and on the field hitting with a couple of fiends during the off-season. His unusual extra work in the weight room came as a result of him heeding friends’ call that he give football a try, so he did
Tanner did so well as a wide receiver for the Eagles that he was named first team all-state at that position by the Associated Press (not to be outdone, brother Dylan made second team all-state defensive back and both were All-Olympic League 1A performers).
“It’s kind of fitting that Dylan is skilled to play quarterback (backup this past season) and safety and was the long snapper so he got to snap to Tanner, who punted,” says Dan Zuber. “One of the things we hoped for that that Dylan could throw one overhand to Tanner and hit him for a touchdown or something.”
But it’s baseball now, and After 11 games Tanner was hitting .540 while batting in the second position on a powerful lineup that includes Ryan Gotchall leading off, Jacob Gotchall (also hitting over .500) third and catcher Matt Page in the clean-up spot.
What is impressive is Tanner Zuber now will play both baseball and football at his next stop – Pacific Lutheran University. He has verbally committed to play for the Lutes in both sports. He punted for about a 40-yard average this past fall in football, and that is what he will do for the Lutes, who do not have a returning punter.
Zuber also pitches for the Eagles (he is the No. 2 starter behind Jacob Gotchall), but will not pitch for the Lutes. He will play either second or short for them.
It’s not surprising that Zuber is doing so well in baseball. Dan Zuber played baseball at Washington and Uncle Tom at Eastern Washington so the genes are there.
“My dad and uncle and grandpa (Al Zuber) all have been a large influence on my baseball career,” says Tanner. The elder Zubers grew up playing baseball in Centralia and Tanner’s grandfather had an offer to play ball at Oregon State.
Tanner’s superb hitting, which includes two home runs, is a combination of good athletic genes and the work he put in getting stronger in the weight room and the hitting he did at the baseball field with friends (and teammates) Jake Zieser and Brayden Meyers. Both of them also benefited from the extra hitting. Zieser was batting .450 through 11 games and Meyers .370 while playing for the junior varsity and occasionally swinging up to the varsity.
“In November we started doing two days a week at 6 in the morning in our gym, and then every weekend on Sundays a couple of buddies (Zieser and Meyers) and I would go to the field and hit. It was nice to go down on the field with your friends and do something you love,” Zuber said.
This has been a good season for Klahowya in multiple sports, and one of the big reasons is that the school was reclassified by the WIAA as a 1A school, done from its past 2A status. Klahowya opponents likely knew what was headed their way because the Eagles returned a veteran and senior-laden team.
“It’s exciting, but scary at the same time,” says Zuber. “We know we have a target on our back. Everyone want to knock off the number one team, so there is pressure. But we are handling the pressure well, and getting better every day.”
Zuber has been playing baseball since T-ball at the age of six with the Silverdale Pee Wees and then with Babe Ruth. Because Klahowya does not have middle school baseball, Zuber was practicing with the Klahowya varsity as an eighth-grader
“So I had kind of an extra year of high school baseball,” says Zuber, who when he gets a chance to take a deep breath will begin to look forward to playing college ball n two sports at PLU.
“I will have my work cut out for me,” says Zuber, who carries a 3.6 grade-point average. “Right now I plan on a degree in biology. I have had a great experience in my high school biology class with Mr. (Rob) Hawley.
“I’m excited for my four years of baseball at PLU. I’m looking forward to that. And then after that, hopefully I can find a job and be successful at that.”