The Brett Favre jokes have subsided by now, but Joe Sczublewski has come out of a brief retirement to lead the Albert Lea baseball team once again this season.

He’ll be in the dugout Friday when the Tigers start their season on the road in Waseca.

Sczublewski retired from coaching at the end of the school year last spring, but after some prodding from parents, coaches, and players, he decided in October to return to the dugout for his 31st season of coaching.

“I’m sore right now,” Sczublewski said. “That cold weather just takes it out of you when you’re hitting fungoes and throwing the ball, pitching batting practice, but it’s a lot of fun. The kids are very enthusiastic and there’s some good talent there.”

The time away from the game allowed him to regroup, who has had several knee operations over the years.

“I decided it would be hard to miss doing that again, too,” Sczublewski said.

Sczublewski will have two assistant coaches this season with Jack Kortan and Derek Fleek. Kortan coached the VFW team, which made a trip to the state tournament for the first time in 30 years last summer and will be a volunteer assistant coach. Fleek coached the B-squad last season and is now the varsity assistant coach. Kortan will continue to coach the VFW team this summer and Fleek will take over coaching the American Legion team.

“The kids know us, we know the kids. There’s a certain level of comfort there,” Sczublewski said.

This season will mark Sczublewski’s 20th year as the head coach of the Tigers and he enters the season with a group of young players excited about the season after their success during the summer.

Albert Lea is coming a 3-19 season that saw the Tigers lose 11 consecutive games after starting the season 2-0.

Albert Lea returns just two seniors this season and much of the team will be led by 12 juniors and sophomores.

“We’re going to be a lot younger than everybody else that we’re playing, but if you get good pitching and the kids execute and play hard, good things can happen,” Sczublewski said.

The team displayed its commitment before the season even started this year by going to open gyms at the beginning of January.

“Last year I could tell it took a long time to get the arm ready,” said junior Jordan Cooper. “It’s seems like now we’re ready to go out and pitch.”

Cooper will likely see some time on the mound this season, along with senior captain Logan Kortan, junior Colby Strilaeff, and sophomore Aaron Klatt.

Kortan was also the team’s leading hitter last season. He hit .373 with 13 RBIs and led the team in doubles with eight.

Luke Grossman got experience behind the plate last season when starter Casey Woodside broke his finger, but he is the only returner, besides Kortan, who had more than 25 at-bats in the season.

“It’s just a matter now, of getting some varsity experience and a little seasoning on a little different level of play because they’re going to be playing some really tough teams,” Sczublewski said.

The sophomores may be counted on to play in some big spots for the Tigers this season, but it’s not something entirely novel for this group.

“I think the younger players are used to playing up,” Cooper said. “They’ve play up almost their whole career.”

Some of the sophomores played with the Legion team during the summer when it was short on players, but a few also played some varsity games last season. In fact, Aaron Klatt started three games last season, including a section playoff game as a freshman.

The Big Nine will again be a deep conference for baseball with the Rochester schools looking strong and Owatonna a perennial contender.

John Marshall, after a trip to state last season, returns strictly an all junior and all senior roster this season. Mayo is also expected to be very good this season with nine seniors returning.

The Tigers will learn this season if the young players really are ready for the jump to varsity.

“There’s some nice kids coming up, and last year’s summer VFW team is kind of like what we’re having to build off of,” Sczublewski said.