By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It’s been 17 years since the Lamar baseball team won a district championship.
That doesn’t mean the Tigers haven’t come close.
In head coach Thad Lundine’s 13 seasons at the helm, Lamar has played in six district championship games. That includes 2018, when the team suffered an 8-2 loss to Stockton in the Class 3 District 12 finals.
“We just haven’t been able to pull that one off yet,” Lundine said. “Their goals and my goals are the same, we want to get that first district title on the wall.”
After a 12-8 season in 2018, Lundine’s team wants to make a splash this year in the Big 8 Conference and the postseason. During exit interviews last spring, the consensus among players and coach was the Tigers could have been an 18-win team with a few extra parts.
“We had a pretty good season last year with a bunch of young kids,” Lundine said. “Most of our talent was in the sophomore and freshman class. Things should be pretty good this year. We’re returning almost everybody. We’ve got some good young players that have stepped into some good work habits in the offseason and are looking pretty good right now.”
Lamar returns five full-time starters and a couple other players who shared time as outfielders. The team returns two players who earned all-conference honors last year: sophomore Case Tucker, a second team infielder and an honorable mention pitcher, and junior Wyatt Hull, who was an honorable mention utility player. Tucker was also a first team all-district player and Tucker was a second team all-district pitcher.
“Case Tucker played a lot of shortstop and pitcher last year,” Lundine said. “He had a great season for a freshman. He’s trying to avoid that sophomore lull and he does as much work as anybody. He’s very coachable. Wyatt Hull is my utility guy and he goes wherever the pitcher came from most of the time and he’s good at it. He’s also a catcher. He’s a very versatile kid. Battled leadoff for us last year and did a good job.”
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Tucker was 2-1 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA. He batted .548 with 11 doubles, 28 RBI’s and 24 stolen bases. He started the year as a relief pitcher but moved into the rotation halfway through the season and was “phenomenal.”
Hull was a .333 hitter who stole 12 bases.
Senior Duncan Gepner, a first team all-district catcher, returns behind the plate and will also pitch. He has committed to play baseball at Drury next season.
“He’s a good all-around leader for us,” Lundine said. “He does a great job at both positions and he’s a switch hitter. I’m hoping to be able to put him higher in the order this year.”
Gepner went 6-0 on the mound last season with a 3.01 ERA.
The other returners are junior Donte Stahl, junior JD Bishop, sophomore Cade Griffith and junior Sam Mather.
Stahl is a two-year starter who started at catcher his freshman season when Gepner broke his shoulder. He spent two years as the varsity starter and is looking for a new position this season with Gepner back behind the plate.
“He’s a good asset,” Lundine said. “I don’t know right now if he’s going to be playing third base and pitching or if he’ll move to the middle infield. It depends on how everything else shakes out. He batted in the five hole last year.”
He was a .262 hitter.
Bishop has started for parts of two seasons in the outfield. Lundine said he’s a “big, lanky kid” with good speed and a good arm.
“I’m hoping he can have a breakout this year,” he said.
Griffith started half the year in the outfield last season and usually didn’t hit. Mather also shared time with him.
“I think both of them look to be in good position to be full-time starting outfielders for us,” Lundine said. “They have good speed, they play in the secondary for us in football. They’re good at tracking the football in the air.”
First base remains a question mark for the Tigers. Senior Alex Burgess and sophomore Rylan Wooldridge are both competing for that spot. One has a really good bat and the other has a really good glove, Lundine said.
The pitching staff will consist mainly of Gepner, Tucker, Stahl and Hull.
The team’s schedule has a few new wrinkles this season. Lamar will play some bigger schools like Joplin and a few from southeast Kansas. The Tigers will also see some new opponents in a revamped Big 8 Conference, like Logan-Rogersville and Nevada.
