Lions looking to defend ACCC crown

Published 10:28 pm Wednesday, February 7, 2007

HANCEVILLE — Entering his 18th season as head coach of the baseball team at Wallace State, Randy Putman has his program right where he wants it, and it is evidenced by the attitude toward his team by the other coaches in the Alabama Community College Conference.

“We’ve won the last two and six of the last 10,” Putman said. “And I’ve had a few coaches tell me if their team cannot win the state championship, they don’t care who does as long as it’s not us.”

The Lions are coming off a 2006 season where they made it to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Col., and came away with a third-place finish.

In 2007, the Lions want to go a little further and win it all.

“Like always, we’re anxious to get the season started and get started playing,” Putman said. “We’ve done about as much as we can do on wet fields, soccer fields and parking lots.

“We’re ready to get out there and defend out state title and see if we can do better than we did last year.”

One of the key components in building a dynasty at the two-year school level is making sure to have a good balance between sophomores and freshmen each year. Putman has that this season with a total of nine players returning this year for their sophomore season.

“We have nine good players coming back from last year’s World Series team, and that can be good in some instances and bad in others,” Putman said. “They do bring back that much experience, but sometimes they have lost their passion when that second season here rolls around.

“They may have already signed with a four-year school or have made other plans once they are done here. I don’t think that is the case with anyone on this team. I think we are all ready to go this year.”

Defense starts on the mound with the pitchers, and the Lions have two sophomores leading the way in Derek Holland and Jamie Manning.

“They had a lot of quality innings for us last season, and they will be our top two pitchers starting out,” Putman said. “They will be looked to lead this pitching staff this season.”

Other pitchers on the staff include local players Graham Wright from Hanceville and Blake Mechaw from Vinemont along with Chris Hoffer, Craig Kimbrell, Austin Lucas, Brando Casalicchio, Jonathan Lopez and Alan Lawrence.

In the infield, Logan Eads, Rich Porohnavi and Hanceville’s Buddy Calvert will be handling catching duties, while Cullman’s Chaise Oliver and Damien Mazzetti both return to play at first base.

“Chaise and Damien both put up excellent numbers last year for us,” Putman said. “Having two experienced first basemen will be a big advantage for us at that position.”

Jake Elmore, last year’s winner of the Big Stick award at the World Series, returns to play at second base along with Derrick Green.

Zelous Wheeler moved during the offseason from third base to shortstop, and Jorge Williams and Josh McGinnis will be handling duties at third base this year.

“We’ve got good people in every position, and I think our infield will be solid,” Putman said.

“If one of our starters goes down, we have someone to back them up, and we have some like Josh McGinnis that can play anywhere on the field.”

In the outfield will be Jono Waugh in centerfield backed up by freshman Bryant Hall. Bill Henke will be called upon to fulfill duties in right field with Hoffer backing him up. Chase McCain and Zach Lambrechts will be handling left field, and McGinnis will be helping also.

Now that Putman believes he has the right people in the right places, the Lions have the difficult task of tackling the 2007 schedule.

“It could be the toughest it’s been since I’ve been here,” Putman said. “We’ve got a tough schedule in the Northern Division of the conference, and we have plenty of quality out-of-state opponents to test us outside the conference.”

Wallace State begins play Thursday when the Lions travel to Central Alabama for a double header. Their home opener will be next Sunday against a quality team from outside Alabama, Volunteer State.

“It will be tough, but we want to see how good we are this season,” Putman said.