By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Reeds Spring’s baseball program made significant developmental strides in 2018.
The Wolves finished 13-10, falling to Logan-Rogersville in the district opening round.
For head coach Chris Funk, the priority continues to be building a positive, selfless culture from within.
“Last year was one of the most successful offensive seasons we have had at Reeds Spring,” Funk said. “We averaged over seven runs a game, hit over 60 doubles and had 15 home runs as a team. We are excited to see how our players will continue to grow offensively.”
Funk has high hopes for this season, as well, with only three graduated seniors departing the program in Noah Briley (3B/P), Collin Cross (1B/P) and Carter Sadler (OF).
“We had two seniors that broke school records and saw a massive amount of improvement in all facets of our program,” Funk said. “Noah Briley broke the school record in wins and career ERA. Collin Cross tied the single-season doubles record and broke the career doubles record.”
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With only a trio of graduates, Reeds Spring’s returning nucleus will be asked to step up and challenge immediately.
That group is led by a trio of seniors in shortstop Seth Stamps (.397 BA, 29 Hits, 23 RBI, 3 HR, 10 SB), catcher Cole Watson (.471 BA, 33 Hits, 19 RBI, 5 HR, 8 SB) and outfielder/pitcher Blake Gronvold (2-2, 3.93 ERA, .298 BA, 17 Hits, 7 RBI, 6 SB).
“Seth is the ultimate leader and truly the hardest-working student-athlete I have ever coached,” Funk said. “Cole is a strong-armed catcher that did a lot of damage in the middle of our lineup last year, leading our team with five home runs. Blake will enter his season season being a three-year starter in the outfield.”
Other returnees for the Wolves include junior outfielder/pitcher Cody Hughes (.344 BA, 22 Hits, 18 RBI, 6 SB), senior third baseman/pitcher Ben Moler (.240 BA, 13 Hits, 8 RBI, 2 SB), junior pitcher/outfielder Logan Chambers (1-0, 1.42 ERA), junior first baseman/pitcher Paxton Smith, senior first baseman Justin Miller and senior second baseman/outfielder Max Meilner.
With plenty of depth and experience, Funk is optimistic concerning his team’s opportunities this season.
“I am very excited about our lineup,” Funk said. “We have a great mix of proven upperclassmen that have produced for multiple years and young talent that fit the mold of what we like to do offensively. We will be very fast and expect our speed to create some problems for our opponents.”
A number of impact newcomers could also challenge for varsity playing time this season, including senior second baseman/outfielder Colton Essick, sophomore outfielder Nick Brainczyk, sophomore pitcher Justin Locke, senior outfielder Andrew Highfill, sophomore first baseman Luke McFerron and senior catcher Seth Fortner.
Funk believes if Reeds Spring is to challenge for conference and district titles this season, developing a relatively inexperienced pitching staff will be vital.
“Our pitching staff — which is young in terms of experience — will be the key to our success this year,” Funk said. “We feel we have seven to eight arms that can pitch valuable innings for us this year.”
The Wolves are also set to enter their first season in the newly-revamped Big 8 Conference, and Funk feels competing with the likes of Aurora, Springfield Catholic, and Logan-Rogersville will only benefit the program down the road.
“We are excited about joining the Big 8 Conference this year and believe that it is one of the best baseball conferences in the state at any classification,” Funk said. “There could be up to five teams in our conference that will be state-ranked.”
In discussing the culture shift within his program, Funk was also quick to credit assistant coach Jared Anderson’s contributions.
“Our biggest x-factor this year will be our mentality,” Funk said. “Our players have worked extremely hard in the weight room through our strength and conditioning program throughout the year. We are lucky to have one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the state in Coach Anderson who is also our pitching and catching coach. He does a fabulous job pushing our athletes every day.”
That hard work could pay off again this year, as a pair of athletes could be poised for record-breaking seasons.
According to Funk, Stamps could break the school’s season and career record for stolen bases, and Watson has a possibility to break the career batting average record.
Reeds Spring opens its season March 15 at Forsyth.
