By Chris Parker
Spokane baseball has a new head coach in Justin Sundlie this year. He is looking to help a Spokane baseball program that has won just five games in the last two years climb the SWCL standings.
Pitching will be the key to a resurgence.
“It all starts on the mound,” Sundlie said. “We have to find three or four guys that will compete every day and give us a chance to win by throwing strikes. There will be a lot of learning with some young kids this spring. We started five freshmen in the fall. We will try not to focus on the wins and losses and just try to play a clean game where we improve every time we are on the field.”
Nic Stone was the only senior in the fall. He will be a utility player that should hit in the middle of the lineup. The junior class is strong with Jacob Wiggins, Jacob Wasson, Zayne Gale and Dylan Summers. Wiggins will be one of Spokane’s top pitchers and also play outfield while hitting in the middle of the order. Wasson will hit atop the lineup and play shortstop. Summers will join Wasson up the middle at second base.
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Freshmen Jace Leigh (utility), Joseph Jimerson (outfield), Grayson Goodall (utility), J.D. Tate (first base), Luke Wasson (catcher) and Grady Claybrook (outfield) will all be vying for varsity innings.
“I feel like this team has the potential to pitch and play quality defense,” Sundlie said. “We have a lot of returning pitching that knows what to expect in our very competitive conference. We weren’t very offensive in the fall, but that will keep improving with maturity.”
Quality practice time will be key for this team to improve.
“I feel like we just need to keep learning the game,” Sundlie said. “Like I said this is a very young team and with the exception of three or four most of them haven’t played together. Having quality practices and showing up ready to work hard will be very important.”
Sundlie will look for consistent improvement throughout the year from his team.
“We have some very good baseball teams in the SWCL and all of southwest Missouri. For us to expect to compete with the top teams we will need steady improvement,” Sundlie said. “We are going to focus on trying to raise our level of play every day through fundamentals and playing hard. This is a fun group of guys and I’m excited to see what they can do.”
Spokane opens the baseball season on Mar. 20 at Hartville.
