By Chris Parker
East Newton baseball has a new head coach in Alex Wheeler this season. This is Wheeler’s first head coaching job after coaching at Stockton the past three years.
He takes over a program coming off a 9-16 season.
To turn that around, Wheeler wants his team to focus fully on the fundamentals of the game.
“We want to be the best at boring, meaning we want to dominate the parts of the game that are considered fundamental (like) throwing strikes, clean defense, bunting, putting the ball in play, etc.,” Wheeler said.
He has a good core of senior leaders to lean on in his first season as head coach including Brinnen VanLue, Kolt Walters, Haze Hagedon, Luke Cook, Dasan Sartin, Will Adams and Wyatt Moore.
Wheeler on VanLue: “Brinnen VanLue will lead our pitching staff this year. He does a great job changing speeds and commanding the zone for us. He also is one of our most consistent hitters from the summer that we will turn to for offensive production.”
Wheeler on Walters: “Kolt Walters also will spend a lot of time on the mound and on our infield. He is a year removed from the field because of a knee injury but is a high IQ level guy with a great bat.”
Wheeler on Hagedon: “Haze Hagedon is a guy we can call on to eat up innings, always filling up the zone and giving us a chance to win. He also has the ability to hit with some power that we saw glimpses of over the summer and plays a solid corner outfield.”
Wheeler on Cook: “Luke Cook played a clean second base for us over the summer and will look to continue to contribute in that way.”
Wheeler on Sartin: “Dasan Sartin was one of our better hitters over the summer and will be relied on to bring a spark with the bat.”
Wheeler on Adams: “Will Adams is a guy that saw some varsity time last year and will look to contribute again by playing clean defense and putting together competitive at-bats.”
Wheeler on Moore: “Wyatt Moore will also look to compete for spots and has brought great energy to off-season workouts.”
In addition to VanLue, Walters and Hagedon, Will Eichelberger (junior), Layton Pilcher (sophomore), Braiden VanLue (sophomore), Christian Cook (junior), Braxton Wolfe (junior), Josh Mathis (junior) and Carson Rinehart (freshman) will all look to fill out innings on the mound.
Josh Mathis (junior) and Tanner Woods (sophomore) will look to get time behind the plate.
Kolt Walters, Braiden VanLue and Braxton Wolfe will all be relied on heavily on the infield. Brinnen VanLue, Luke Cook, Brady Siler, Carson Rinehart and Wyatt Eichelberger will all be looking to contribute as well.
Will Eichelberger, Luke Moore, Haze Hagedon, Dasan Sartin, Will Adams (12) and Layton Pilcher will all be competing for time in the outfield.
East Newton will rely on the pitching to keep the team in games while the offense works to push runs across.
“I think we have a competitive pitching staff that will keep us in games, we will just need play clean behind them and learn how to manufacture runs,” Wheeler said. “Going into the year there is definitely an emphasis on getting better at the plate, as stated earlier I believe that our pitching staff is good enough to keep us in games, but if we start putting things together at the plate we will be very successful.”
East Newton opens the season on Mar. 16 at El Dorado Springs.
“Going into the year I think we have a very competitive group that has the ability to win,” Wheeler said. “There are areas that need growth but these are extremely coachable kids that have no problem with working hard.”
