New season, new sport.

Same player, same plans.

"I know we haven't won a state tournament game for a number of years," Century baseball standout ZachWentz said. "And our seniors want to go out the way we went out in football - with a year people remember."

Alinebacker and record-setting quarterback, Wentz was one of the mainstays in the CHSfootball turnaround last fall. The Patriots, 3-6 in 2006, improved to 9-2 last season, advancing to the state AAA semifinals.

Century wouldn't have to climb nearly as high a mountain as the football team to become a contender this spring.

The Patriots are coming off an 18-14 season in which they fell one win and one run short of qualifying for the state tournament.

But that season-ending 5-4 loss to Jamestown was a bitter one. CHShas a 4-0 regular-season record against the Blue Jays with a 28-6 edge in runs scored.

If Century is to make any tournament noise this season, Wentz will undoubtedly be a major factor.

He's been a member of the Patriot pitching rotation and an infield regular since his freshman year.

He's 10-8 in 1312/3 innings over that span and has hit .376 with six homers and 59 RBIs.

Last season he was 1-2 in 30 innings with a 1.87 ERA and hit .354.

Coming off football-related knee surgery, he pitched 15 fewer innings than ever before. He also moved from shortstop to third base in deference to the recovery process.

Wentz, a 6-foot-2, 215-pounder, said the deference business is over, pure and simple. The football season, in which he passed for 2,227 yards and ran for 371 more, backs him up.

About halfway through the Legion baseball season last summer, Wentz knew his repaired right knee was ready. "In my head I knew where I was going to be (health-wise), but it's one of those things where I had to go out and prove to myself and prove to everyone else where I was at," he said.

Wentz said he's ready to shoulder a draft horse-size pitching load this spring. He'd like to get the ball for today's opener with Bismarck High and often thereafter.

"Anywhere from 50 to 60 innings," he said when asked for his preferred work load. "Physically I'm probably in the best shape I've been in since the knee injury," he said. "… I went through an acceleration program (over the winter) … to focus on the strength and quickness aspects without wearing a brace."

Century is ranked fourth in the West Region coaches' preseason poll, and Wentz is eager to upset the experts, just as the Patriots did in football.

"We're going to be right in the mix," Wentz said. "It depends on how much work we want to put in and how seriously we're going to take it."

"A lot of coaches say a team is led by the seniors up front," he added. "… Iknow for a fact we want to go out the right way."

Wrapping up his high school athletic career in style is a matter of setting and surpassing goals, Wentz said.

"Every year you have to set goals," he said. "No. 1, you exceed expectations, and you just see how it goes after that."

Wentz's two-sport athletic career will continue into college - for awhile - at North Dakota State University.

"At NDSUI'm going to do both (football and baseball) the first year," he said. "Ihave to make up my mind after that."