Published: March 19, 2008 04:19 pm            

Foxes have mix of youth, experience

By CHARLES PENDELL

Sports correspondent

McLEANSBORO — Youth, pitching and experience look to be major strengths this spring for Hamilton County High School baseball coach Jeff Gray, whose Foxes return seven starters and most of his pitching staff from a year ago.

The Foxes finished last season at 18-12 but lost Matt Hall and Justin Cantrell to graduation. Cantrell moved on to play baseball at Rend Lake College.

Gray begins his 10th year at the helm after being an all-star shortstop and pitcher himself for the Foxes from 1985-88. He has also been directing the Junior Foxes baseball program for the past six seasons.

The Foxes have three seasoned senior hurlers in Orry Taylor, Brody Mitchell and Tanner Spicuzza, plus juniors Cal Muehlenbein and Benton transfer David Hunt, and sophomores Orry Rogers, Lee Donelson and Robert Rubenacker. Also, Gray will rely on freshman Steven Lemmons to fill in when he needs him.

“Brody and Orry have pitched as starters since their sophomore year,” Gray said. “They both have pitched well and improved a bunch since getting to high school, and we’re really going to rely on those two this year in our conference games as well as some of the bigger and better competition.

“Tanner actually got thrown out on the mound last year. We ran out of players to pitch and we sent Tanner out there. He was a blessing in disguise and pitched extremely well and earned a spot in our rotation.

“Muehenbein made great strides last year, and transfer David Hunt, he’s a very big surprise. His pitching will hopefully keep us in some ball games. Both Muehlenbein and Hunt will shore up the fourth and fifth spots on the hill.

“Rogers, Donelson and Rubenacker will see time in relief or a spot start here and there if we get backed up in games.

“Lemmons has already two scheduled starts on the varsity level, and he will be in the regular rotation on the JV level. If we need him, we won’t hesitate to pull him out and use him. Lemmons is a very talented young man who has a very high ceiling when it comes to his baseball ability. Over the next four years, we expect good things from him.”

The Foxes have seven seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores and seven freshmen on the roster.

Spicuzza, a first-team all- Black Diamond Conference selection, will also bolster the Foxes’ hitting crew. He hit over .400 last year, while senior teammate Zeb Gidcumb was right at the 400 mark. Seniors Caleb Kirsch, Rhet Vaughan and Taylor also hit over 300 for the Foxes.

“Kane Smith could throw for us if we really need him, but he is by far our best catcher and that is where he will be the majority of the time, “Coach Gray added. Kane is like our secret weapon. Sophomores Josh Hall and Clint Hopfinger will back up Smith at catcher.”

Taking care of first base will be senior Caleb Kirsch. “Caleb is our Houdini for our squad and he is a good leader, Gray added. Zeb Gidcumb will man second base with backup coming from sophomore Justin Barnard. Gidcumb is our best pure hitter and he is a natural, Gray continued. When not pitching Spicuzza will take care of shortstop duties with sophomore Brandon Webb as his backup. At the hot spot at third will be senior Orry Taylor. “Taylor has improved immensely, Gray replied. Brandon Webb will also add his wing span of a 747 as a backup at third. The outfield crew will consist of two returning seniors and a sophomore. Senior Rhet Vaughan will return to centerfield, while senior Luke Bowman and sophomore Justin Webb will both patrol the corner outfield slots in left and right. Spicuzza, Brody Mitchell, Hunt and sophomore Kyle Mitchell could also see playing time in the outfield spots.

“All of those guys play good defense for us, “Coach Gray said. “Vaughan is the best centerfielder we have. His arm strength and his bat have improved. Bowman has improved a lot since last year, Hunt is not very big, but works extremely hard, hopefully he enjoys our program. We have kids that can play. That is what drives these kids, the opportunity to play the game. “

Gray does have an abundance of youngsters also waiting in the wings, who along with some sophomores and a few juniors will make up the junior varsity squad coached by Ron Smith. Freshmen players on the team are Lemmons, Austin Hybbert, Aaron Karcher, Hopfinger, Michael Wheatley, Logan Hamm and Tim Crow. Sophomore players on the team are Barnard, the Webb twins, Donelson, Rogers, Rubenacker and Kyle Mitchell. Juniors are Muehlenbein,, Smith, Hall, Hunt and Ben Scatone. Seniors on the squad are Taylor, Brody Mitchell, Bowman, Vaughan, Gidcumb, Spicuzza and Kirsch. Gray will also have added assistance as former Foxes great Jeff Karcher will also add his knowledge of baseball to the fold as a volunteer assistant coach.

The Foxes play in the very tough Black Diamond conference and will have some tough non-conference teams also on their schedule. “ Carterville is probably going to be the best team in it, “Coach Gray said. They return six or seven starters and have three of the best pitchers in Southern Illinois. After Carterville I think Carmi is a good club, they have a couple of good kids on the mound, Trico always plays good baseball and then I have to throw us in there as a team that will compete with those three teams and give Carterville a run. After that, Fairfield and then Eldorado and Johnston City. There will be only nine conference games on the schedule and we will play Galatia and Carrier Mills in our own little round robin tournament on April 19. We have quite a few Saturday games. We have a good non-conference schedule as we play Harrisburg, Benton, Marissa, Vienna, Waltonville, West Frankfort. Of course we have Pinckneyville they are ranked second in the state in the pre-season. We have games on almost every day during the season, but we will rest on Sunday. We have practiced for the past three weeks to prepare us for the season. Once the season gets here we want to play. The kids are ready and they are fired up and ready to go.”

Every team has goals and the Foxes are no exception. “We want to keep improving game to game, “Coach Gray stated. It’s a long season and we do play a lot of games weather permitting We want to keep the tires moving and about halfway through the season we want to be clicking on all cylinders and the best case scenario is right around regional time we want to start to gel and play our best baseball at that time. That’s not to say that when we start out this week we’re not just going to go through the motions. We’re coming out of the gates looking to win and to play well from day one and keep building on that. The kids are excited and have been talking about the season all year long. We have 36 games on our schedule and these guys are talking about winning 25 of them. That is a huge statement, but it is nice to know that these kids have that kind of confidence in our program and themselves. If that is what they think they can do then the only thing that will stop them is getting in their own way. We’re all ready to get started so let the games begin.

        

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