By Chris Parker
Veteran coach Mike Essick takes over as the head coach of the Spokane baseball program this year.
He will be looking to turn around a program that won just one game in 2018 and four games in 2019. Essick got a preview of his team in the fall where the Owls went 3-6.
“It (a fall season) allows you to work on a lot of little things that teams that just play in the spring don’t always have time to give adequate time to,” Essick said.
Seniors Jacob Wasson (pitcher/shortstop) and Jacob Wiggins (pitcher/outfield/first base) will be team leaders.
Junior Blaine Branum along with sophomores JD Tate and Jace Leigh will join Wasson and Wiggins to form the pitching staff.
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Luke Wasson will play catcher.
The alignment around the infield and outfield are an open competition.
“Positions are won every day in practice. We will decide that before our first game,” Essick said.
The Owls will have a good mix of experience and youth this year.
“We are both a mixture of guys with experience, and guys with no experience. We got better every day in the fall, so this spring should be exciting,” Essick said. “We need to cut down on strikeouts on offense, and cut down on walks on defense.”
Spokane opens the season on Mar. 19 at home against Springfield Central.
“We feel like you should always have high, but realistic expectations. Baseball is like no other sport,” Essick said. “We think by the end of the season we should be really competitive.”
