AKRON – New coach. New uniforms. Same old tradition.

It would be nice to say that the Vikings are back, but the simple truth is that they never truly left.

Ever since last year’s season- ending loss to Hamilton Heights in the first round of the regional, Tippecanoe Valley baseball players have been hard at work. The off-season regiment is a labor of love for Valley players, one they go through in hopes of building off of the previous season’s success. With that in mind, this team has a lot to live up to but has all of the right tools to make some serious noise during the 2013 campaign.

The Vikings graduated some talent off of last year’s team, most notably in pitcher James Hackworth. But Hackworth was one of just four seniors from last year’s sectional title team. This year the Vikings will boast six returning and two first-year seniors. Leading that pack of upperclassmen is yet again at talented pitcher, Clayton Adamson. Adamson made a name for himself last year by mowing down opposing batters on a regular basis and is projected to be the team’s ace for this season.

Dan Miller will be another returning senior for the Vikings. Miller is a three year letter winner and adds leadership to the Valley lineup. Adding talent and athleticism to both the lineup and pitching staff will be Tanner Andrews.

First year head coach Brandon Cody had some good things to say about his junior utility knife, “Tanner is just an athlete and any coach would be lucky to have him.”

The coach would later continue, “Tanner will be our starting shortstop and be in our starting rotation. We will probably have him at number two or three in the rotation. He is such a good shortstop that we really hate to throw him but thankfully we will have a lot of depth in the infield this year.”

If there is one thing every coach loves to have, it’s depth. Having the ability to go two or three players deep is a luxury that Cody and his staff will have at some spots this season. That type of advantage is huge come sectional weekend, and if the Vikings hope to claim the school’s sixth sectional title they will need everyone to step up at some point.

But before they think about the sectional trophy, Valley will be focused on claiming the Three Rivers Conference crown. Cody expects his team to compete heavily this season for first place in the TRC but also mentioned several teams that will be tough to get by, including rival Whitko. Once the team gets through the gauntlet that is shaping up to be the TRC, they will have a field of teams gunning to knock them off of the top spot in the sectional at West Noble.Without a doubt the road to a repeat will be a daunting one for Valley.

Wawasee Rebuilding From The Ground Up

Last season could not have ended much worse for the Wawasee Warriors. Their long time coach had announced he would not be returning towards the end of the season, the team was struggling to just play fundamental baseball and the season was ended on their home field in the first round of sectional play. With the program looking to be at rock bottom, the right person had to be selected to lead the Warriors into a new era.

Enter Eric Screeton.

Screeton was the head coach at Goshen College for two years before accepting the position at Wawasee. Screeton inherits a team without an identity and that is made up of mostly sophomores. While there is definitely some talent on the Warriors roster, a lot of it is underdeveloped and raw. The task at hand for Screeton and his brand new staff of former college coaches/players is to rebuild the Wawasee program from scratch.

Improvements were seen early as winter call outs saw over 50 kids try out for the team, a higher number than the program had seen in recent years. With that many players out for a team that struggled to field a junior varsity squad last season, it seems the new coach is truly bringing a new face to the Warrior program.

Two faces that are not new to the green and gold are seniors Isaac Rigdon and Derrick Sorensen. The two will be the heart and soul of the otherwise young team this season. Rigdon will lead off the order for the Warriors and hold down the infield at second base. Sorensen will be bouncing back and fourth as the number one or two pitcher for Wawasee as well as bat in the heart of the lineup.

This season may be a tough one for Wawasee fans and players alike but it will be an invaluable one for the future of the Warrior program.

Wildcats Looks To Shock The TRC, Sectional Field

A 20 win season was by no means a disappointment for coach Erik Hisner and his Whitko squad, but the 12-0 season-ending defeat at the hands of eventual sectional champion Norwell left a lot more to be desired for the South Whitley sluggers.

While the team graduated five starters from 2012’s 20-9 squad, it also returns five starters and will field six seniors and four juniors. The Wildcats are stacked with upperclassmen talent and could play spoiler to a lot of teams in the hunt to be conference or sectional champions.

One thing the Wildcats plan to count on is the returning sluggers row of players. Seniors Ryan Weigold and Alex Stoddarda and junior Ethan Nicodemus all come in carrying a batting average of at least .335 while senior Trey Weber comes into the year boasting a .400 average from last season. No matter how the lineup card is written, that is a difficult group to face.

Nicodemus will also help anchor the Wildcats rotation. The junior won seven games last year and posted an ERA of 3.42. Stoddard and Wolf will be the other two players in the starting mix for Whitko.

In addition to the talented group of senior and juniors Whtiko sophomore Zach Snep returns an average of .390 and an ERA of 1.75 from the time he saw last season.

The veteran leadership and talented underclassmen could lead to a special 2013 for the Wildcats.

Tigers Looking To Improve

The Warsaw Tigers were okay last year, not bad, not great, just okay. But for the Tigers, an okay season is just not good enough.

The Tigers managed to get a few quality wins but failed to close out big opportunities. After an underwhelming 11 win 2012 season, Warsaw graduated 10 seniors. That purging of the roster has left the Tigers with a team assembled of mainly juniors, eight to be precise, and six seniors.

The goal is simple for Warsaw, improve. When playing the overly talented teams that the Northern Lakes Conference offers for fourteen games, it can be draining physically and emotionally for a less experienced team. Last year the Tigers were just not up to snuff with the rest of the NLC, finishing just 5-9 in conference play. This year the Tigers will look to get above that five win plateau.

One player to watch for in the orange and black is Shay Hepler. The senior outfielder has good mechanics and causes problems for opposing pitchers at the plate.

The Tigers were bounced out of the sectional last season by a very talented Concord team. This year Warsaw will get the first shot at revenge at home when they welcome in the Minutemen on April 26 for a 5:00P.M. game. But the biggest challenge will not be a grudge game against Concord, or even getting to six wins in the NLC, the Tigers biggest obstacle will be the sectional tournament.

Warsaw will again play in a sectional hosted at Elkhart Memorial stuffed with teams from the NLC that will know the Tigers all too well. In addition to a field full of rival teams, the Tigers also share sectional turf with Elkhart Central, back-to-back sectional champions and ranked preseason No. 4 in the IHSBCA poll.

Look for the Tigers to rise to the occasion this season and turn some heads in the NLC.

Trojans To Face Learning Curve This Season

Just three seniors will take the field this year for Triton. Outside of that the team will be pressed to find the experience coach Rodney Younis is used to having.

“Our seniors will be a big help and bring a lot of experience to the team,” Younis stated.

Bryon Mosier will be one of the seniors looking to guide hs team to a winning season. Mosier is a four year letter winner for Younis’ team and has held down the hot corner at third base since his freshman year.  The rest of the infield will be in good hands as fellow seniors Seth Glingle and Pete Kauffman will start at first and seond base respectively. Both players have started at their positions for the past two seasons.

The junior class will be headlined by Cole Creighbaum who has seen varsity time at pitcher, outfield and is projected to see a lot of time at shortstop this season. Along with Creighbaum expect to see all three of the seniors in the starting rotation as well as in relief work. As for the rest of the team it could look to be a baptism by fire method as the Trojans expect to grow and improve throughout the year.

Closing his interview, Younis had this to say about what he expects to see from his players by the end of the year, “This is a group that may start of slow but come end of season will have the potential to be a dangerous team for sectional.”