Wednesday, March 14, 2007 10:40 PM CDT
Area baseball teams ready to get season started
By Mike Monahan Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
Twelve Class A area teams are to start their baseball seasons between today and March 24. Last year Shelbyville advanced to the Sweet 16, falling to Trenton Wesclin 4-3 at Eastern Illinois University, while Neoga won its first-ever regional title. The Rams finished 28-3 and the Indians were 19-7.
One school, Okaw Valley, has a new coach as Bethany graduate Andrew Hagerman takes over for Okaw Valley athletics director and dean of students Nick Kearfott.
Arcola, Cumberland and Martinsville are to start today with Cumberland playing at Martinsville and Arcola traveling to Monticello. Casey-Westfield is to open Friday at Cumberland, while Okaw Valley is to play host to Meridian Saturday and Shelbyville is to travel to Tolono to face Unity. Windsor is also to play host to Martinsville Saturday in a doubleheader. Neoga and Stewardson-Strasburg are to open Monday with Neoga at North Clay and the Comets play host to Arcola. Tuesday, Arthur is to play host to Monticello and Sullivan travel to Casey-Westfield. Tri-County is the final team to play its opener as they play host to Windsor March 24 in a doubleheader.
The final postseason under the two class system (baseball is going to four classes in 2007-08) is to start May 14 with regional tournaments. The sectional tournaments are set for May 23 and 24 and 26, while the super-sectional is set for May 28 as 342 teams are attempting to earn the right to play in the state tournament June 1-2 at Silver Cross Stadium in Joliet.
Arcola
The Purple Riders have just 12 players this year, but return first team all-Little Okaw Valley Conference pitcher Jamison Miller. Miller, a senior, was 6-3 on the mound last year for coach Jarod Kiger’s team.
However, Arcola has not been able to practice on the field at the city run park of Moore Memorial Park due to poor field conditions and have already moved the first four scheduled home games to the opposing team. Kiger is hoping they can find a place to practice on a field somewhere other than Arcola as there is no other field there.
Eduardo Leal is the top returning better. Leal batted .371 last year for the 11-12 Purple Riders. Miller batted .366 and Brett Poorman hit .359, while Cory Joergens hit .338.
Miller and Joergens are the top pitchers, with Poorman also set to pitch as well. Arcola has six seniors and all six are returning lettermen, including Daniel Fishel and Adam Cook.
“We are counting a on a lot from Miller this year,” said Kiger, who also coaches football. “Joergens returns at first base and as long as the ball gets close to him he will get it. He is one of the top first baseman in the past several years. He has made just one error in two years.”
Leal is in the No. 2 spot and is to play third base. Kiger is also pleased with the play of Cameron Anderson, a sophomore.
“He puts the ball in play and when you do that you have a chance,” said Kiger. “We have got good leadership and we are looking forward to getting out of the gym and playing on a field.”
Arthur-Lovington
The Knights lost only one player form last year for coach Jared Vanausdoll’s team. Arthur has 10 returning lettermen, including five seniors in Andy Carver, Michael Reed, Seth Sawyer, Terry Schaefer and Lucas Hensley. Reed was a first team pitcher, while Carver was a first team infielder.
Reed is expected to be the top pitcher, with Carver and junior Wes Dukeman also in the rotation.
“We are hoping to have a good year of out Caleb Campos,” said Vanausdoll. “He is a lefty and throws a good change-up. I am also hoping to use freshman Tim Wilson some at the varsity level as well.”
Arthur has 23 total players with Carver, Hensley Reed and Sawyer serving as the captains of the squad.
“Offensively, we have a lot of pop,” said Vanausdoll. “We have six guys that batter over .300 that are back with a year of experience under their belts”
Arthur was 10-20 last year and 9-9 in the conference. The Knights should have plenty of speed with Carver at leadoff and Nick Coleman as well.
“The kids feel with the experience we have coming back we should compete for the conference this year,” said Vanausdoll, who is being assisted by his brother Shawn Vanausdoll. “We are not there yet, but if we improve on fundamentals and focus in practice and have that carry over into games, we will right there.”
Casey-Westfield
Seven seniors plus a sophomore who started as a freshman give Casey-Westfield a good shot at repeating as the Little Illini Conference champion.
Two of the Warriors have already signed to play college baseball n Brennan Ragon at Olivet Nazarene University and Lydon Burson at Olney Central College.
Ragon was a first-team all-conference last season when he went 6-1 as a pitcher and hit around .325 for the Warriors, who went 14-8 overall and finished 8-1 in the LIC and are to open their season Friday in a non-conference game at Cumberland.
Burson batted third in the lineup with a .350 average.
Matthew Todd was the team’s second leading hitter behind graduated Jonathon Matthews last year as he hit .378 and also went 4-1 as a pitcher.
Left fielder Logan Lakins hit .320 last season from the No. 8 spot while striking out only twice.
Michael Staley is a senior catcher who is likely to discourage opposing runners on the basepaths this year after throwing out half of the attempted base stealers last year.
The other seniors are outfielder Nick Nichols and first baseman Ryan Staley as both moved into the starting lineup.
Plus, sophomore Taylor Biggs is back after starting as a freshman outfielder and this year could play several different positions as well as pitch while batting leadoff.
“Obviously with all the kids we have coming back we have some good goals,” said Brandon Miller, entering his second season as Casey’s baseball coach after coming to coach the basketball team four years ago. “We’re in a wooden bat tournament. We’d like to win that tournament and of course we’d like to win the regional.
“You’d always like to win more games than last year but Baseball is still a funny game and you’ve still got to go out and perform.”
Cumberland
Coach Jim Miller enters his second year at the helm after guiding the Pirates to an 11-11 record last year and a 4-5 mark in the Little Illini Conference.
Seven returning lettermen are back from what was the best record at Cumberland in several years. Returning are seniors Bryan Green, Michael Nelson and Garret Warner along with juniors Kye Butler, Kenny Flood, Ben Sherrick and Levi Sudkamp and sophomore Jeremy Jansen..
“The strength is we have a lot of people back and we have settled into the rolls,” said Miller. “They know what to expect.”
Among the players gone from last year are Matt Sudkamp and Dillon Shupe, who are playing for Blackburn currently.
“Filling those two holes is going to really big,” said Miller. “Both guys were all-conference. We actually feel like we are OK up the middle and Garrett Warner, who batted. 421 is going to help us on the offensive end.”
Nelson is expected to play second base, while Jansen is to play shortstop with Sherrick being the catcher. Butler batted .357 last year.
With a short baseball field in Greenup, they have added a net in left field and are calling it the blue monster.
“Eventually we hope to move the fence back,” said Miller. “We have to learn how to play two different types of games one at home and on e on the road and sometimes that adjustment is hard to do. No lead is safe at home. You can’t relax with a 10-run lead.”
A total of 21 players are on the team, including six seniors.
“The nucleolus of the team is the junior class,” said Miller. We re hustling and working hard and seem to play well together and would like to finish above .500.”
Martinsville
The Bluestreaks are coached by Bill Downey, who is in his second year at the helm after going 6-15 last year. The top hitter last year was Bobby Short, who hit .367. Short is a junior. Short is one of six junior on the team that has four seniors, including Nate Tingley. A total of 21 players are on the squad, including two sophomores and nine freshmen. Harry Downey, another junior, returns from last year as well as Ethan Nash.
Neoga
Seven returning lettermen are back for coach Ted Kerner’s team that finished 19-7 last year and 8-11 in the fall season, placing third in the National Trail Conference tournament as the No. 7 seeded team.
“We have our No. 1 pitcher and hitter back,” said Kerner of David Massengill, who batted.488 last spring and was 5-1 on the mound. “We have five guys that started back and another one, Jared Massengill that would have started, but had a broken leg.”
The team has three seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and six freshmen for a total of 22 players. Expecting to join both David and Jared Massengill on the mound is Alex Walk, who was 3-0 last year. Wes Letezia, who hit .370 last fall, is also an expected starter with David Myers, Brock Barnick to be the primary relief pitchers.
Kerner expects to play four or five sophomores in the first couple of weeks.
“Once we get going outside I think the defense will be pretty slid, but not very deep,” said Kerner, whose team finally got outside Monday. “Our main goal is to play well and give ourselves chances to win ball games. Baseball is a little different than basketball in that you can’t have your best player every game. We have to be peaking at regional time and defend our regional title from last year.”
Okaw Valley
The only new coach of the area is a 1991 Bethany graduate, Andrew Hagerman, who is assisted by another Bethany graduate Brian Plummer.
A total of 20 players are on the team, including just two seniors.
“We have a lot of arms for pitching,” said Hagerman. “We have a lot of good hands for infield play. Until the first few games are played I am nervous about where our hitting is going to be. We are focusing a lot on positions and cutoffs and where we are supposed to be-defensive tactiques.”
Okaw Valley has practiced several time on the football field and got on the field for the first time Tuesday.
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854
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