The 2011 baseball season is well underway and as usual, it’s shaping up to be a challenging season as each of our local teams is vying for a another title.
Last season, Lake View went 21-8 overall. This season, the Wild Gators had seven players returning, including Jordan Miller, Zack Allen, Shawn Lewis, Chris Ford, David Townsend, A.J. Hyatt, and Steele Spivey. With so many experienced players returning, Coach Kip Herlong has pretty high hopes. “Our defense should be pretty strong, and our hitting will be a little above average,” he said.
The Wild Gators have eight state titles under their belts and they’re already off to a great season with a 6-1 record to date and an undefeated 3-0 region record. Herlong himself is now in his 18th year of coaching and had a 342-90 record heading into the season.
Despite having a strong team, Herlong initially predicted a tough season. But already they’ve conquered two of their biggest rivals: Latta (in preseason tournament action) and Johnsonville.
But Latta isn’t slouching this season either. Last year they were 12-9 and 8-4 in the region. While they haven’t won a state title since the 1960’s, their record this season is 5-2 and 2-0 in the region, which is not a bad way to start.
The Vikings have 13 returning players, including eight starters. “We are very fortunate to have a couple of junior varsity players move up, and compete for spots on the varsity team,” head coach Daniel Little said. “We have a bunch of hard working type players.”
“Our strength will be how well we have gelled as a team and play together,” he said. “Our weakness would be that we do not have any superstars. Our motto is to bring our lunch pail and our hard hat and go to work everyday!”
Little says the basic philosophy is the same this season, but they have made some changes to their regimen. “As a coaching staff, we always evaluate ourselves after each season, and we tweak some things we do in practice to make it more effective.”
Despite the small changes and the early wins, Coach Little still expects a tough season from a tough region that includes county rival Lake View. “We play in the toughest region in 1A baseball in region 8,” he said, adding that “every team on our schedule has improved from last season. So it every night will be a challenge.”
Meanwhile in Class AA, Dillon isn’t looking too bad, either. Last season the Wildcats finished with a 18-7 record and the Wildcats have a strong record. They were region champs in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2008, and 2010, and they claimed the Lower State 3A title in 2004 and 2006, and the 2A title in 2008.
This season the Wildcats had nine returning players. In addition, Coach Gregg Dozier says they have “a few that haven’t played in a while, and a couple that came up from junior varsity.”
Dozier thinks the team should be okay on defense and pitching, “we just need to hit the ball better than last year.”
Although the schedule is full of tough opponents, including rival Marion and 2A newcomers Waccamaw and Lake City, Dozier thinks it’s important to maintain a good attitude. “We expect to play good baseball, regardless of the situation,” he said. “Every year is supposed to be a good year. That’s what we try to instill in our players.”
