If the weather will allow, though that is sketchy as of press time, the Crowder College baseball team will kick off the 2010 season Saturday in Miami, Okla., against rival Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
If the weather doesn’t cooperate, then Crowder opens next week with a game at Texarkana Junior College in Texas next Friday.
The Roughriders enter this season with five returning players from a team that went 38-18 last year. The team earned the No. 2 seed in the Region XVI tournament, but went 1-2 and failed to repeat as the champion.
This year’s group will look to guide the Roughriders back to region supremacy and likely that would consist of a showdown with Jefferson College, ranked No. 17 in the NJCAA national poll.
“You still have to play the game,” Crowder coach Travis Lallemand said. “Last year we were the favorite to win the region after winning it in ’08 and returning almost every starter. Then, we went 1-2 in the region, we didn’t play well. You have to go out and play the game and I feel we match up well this year against Jefferson.”
The returning starters include Brett Neill, Cam Walker, Dennis Fuller, Adam Davey and Sam Bates. Neill and Fuller have both already committed to play at the next level, going to Drury and Southern Arkansas, respectively.
“I think how we handle success and failure will determine the type of year we have,” Lallemand said. “With a young team, they are looking for their own identity right now. I am confident this group can find their own identity.”
Bates is the only player that earned All-Region XVI honors last year.
Most of those players will be back in starting roles when the season starts.
Fuller, a sophomore from Lake Hamilton High in Hot Springs, Ark., is slated to be the starting first baseman, but will miss the early portion of the season recovering from offseason knee surgery. So, the opening day first baseman will be Kyle Clifton, a freshman from Truman High School in Independence.
Neill, from Ozark, will battle freshman Coby Peebles, from Clever, for the starting second base job.
Freshman Alex Larkin, from St. Dominic, is the starting shortstop. He was the 2008 Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year and replaces former Neosho standout Tanner Pogue at that position.
Larkin’s backup is Fayetteville’s Adam Baker, a fellow freshman.
Kyle Hardy, a transfer from Miami-Dade Community College, will open as the starting third baseman.
In the outfield, the starting three for opening day have been determined. Bates, from Cabot, Ark., will be in left field. Davey, from Topeka Seaman High School, will be in right field. Freshman Johnny Hendrixson, from Rowlett, Texas, will man center field.
Also expected to be in the mix in the outfield is Neill, Colby Roberts, a freshman from Benton, Ark., and Neosho’s Carter Marion, a redshirt freshman.
Behind the plate, there are four players vying for the starting job. Going into the opening weekend, Ozark freshman John Neill, Brett’s little brother, will get the nod.
Also battling for time is sophomore Jordan Hickman (Webb City) and freshmen Clifton and Springfield Catholic’s Kendal San Paolo.
“Compared to last year’s team, I think we can score runs when we aren’t hitting the ball,” Lallemand said. “It is easy to score runs when you are hitting .330 as a team, but when the bats get cold, can you still score? I think we can score runs to win games because we get on base and run the bases.”
On the mound, Crowder will be looking for some players to step up and fill the void left by aces Matt Sample, Don Lisi and Dan Golden – who all at one time signed Division I scholarships last year.
“Last year we had six or seven guys that had 50 innings or more, this year we have about 50 combined innings from six or seven guys back,” Lallemand said. “We have a talented group in my opinion, we just got to get experience on the mound.”
Two of the pitchers back have already committed to schools. Scott Elitzky, a sophomore lefty, has committed to Landry University in Greenwood, S.C. Bubby McGaughy, a sophomore from Conway, Mo., will play at Missouri Southern.
Those two will likely be in the starting rotation, along with a pair of sophomore transfers – Chance Cleveland and Austin Brown. Cleveland is a right-hander from Pine Bluff, Ark., who came in from Mineral Area Junior College. Brown, a sophomore right-hander, is from East Newton. He played for Warren Turner at MSSU, but has sat out a couple of years.
Brown, who played for the Crowder Dirtbags summer team, will likely be the opening-day starter for the Roughriders.
Lallemand also noted there are plenty of freshmen who could factor into the rotation at some point this spring. That group includes Scott McFall (RHP, Fayetteville); Mike Sisco (RHP, Fayetteville); Tyler Sawyer (RHP, Bryant, Ark.); Kyle Seithel (RHP, Blue Springs); Tim Bado (LHP, Eden Prairie, MN); Ethan Mather (RHP, Ozark/Arizona State); Spencer Adcock (RHP, Heber Springs, Ark.).
Also in the mix is redshirt freshman Zach Pugh (RHP, Orchard Farm).
In the bullpen, Dan Kickham (RHP, Glendale) will be the closer. Brandon Taylor (LHP, Harrison, Ark./Bergmann High School) will be a situational lefty out of the pen.
