By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After 17 years with the Tigers, this spring will be the last season for Lamar baseball coach Thad Lundine.
The Lamar staple, who’s coached 26 years overall, is set to retire this summer, but not before one final campaign.
And Lundine returns four full-time starters and a host of others with experience from a team that went 10-9 a year ago and lost to Diamond in the Class 3 District 11 tournament.
“We had some pretty good wins,” Lundine said. “We were the No. 1 seed in districts (before the 6-2 loss to Diamond), but that happens sometimes. You can’t get out of the way sometimes late in the year.”
The team’s four returning full-time starters are seniors Ryan Davis, Ty Willhite, Tyler Ansley and Tate Ansley.
Davis has been the team’s top pitcher the past two seasons and earned second team honors in the Big 8 West and was named to the all-district second team. He threw 28 innings as a junior and went 3-0 with a 3.0 ERA and 33 strikeouts. When not on the mound, he’ll play catcher and has also played third base. He was a .340 hitter last year.
Willhite was a second team all-district shortstop and earned second team honors in the Big 8, as well. He tied for the team lead with 13 RBI’s and batted .327 with seven stolen bases.
Tyler Ansley earned honorable mention honors as an outfielder in the Big 8 and was a first team all-district left fielder. He batted .387 with six doubles, two triples and 15 runs scored and added 10 stolen bases.
Tate Ansley batted .312 with a home run and five steals. He’ll serve as catcher and will also play in the outfield and infield – possibly at first base.
A handful of others return with varsity experience. They include senior Hunter Lundine, who primarily plays second base and appeared in four games as a junior. Jaxon Hearod appeared in two games but was limited by a neck injury. Cooper Haun played in nine games and appeared often as a baserunner while also playing some infield. He could start at third this season and also pitch. Sophomore Alex Wilkerson is primarily an outfielder who could take over for honorable mention All-State player Mason Gastel.
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Additionally, Junior speedster Logan Kish will have a chance to play in the outfield and sophomore Trey Pittsenbarger could fill in on the middle infield when Willhite is pitching.
“I think one of the biggest things about these kids is their work ethic,” Lundine said. “I think we can be really strong in all three phases. We started throwing some bullpens upstairs and that went really well. We’ve done some infield/outfield work and that actually looked really good. We hit constantly. Our kids come at 7 o’clock most mornings and get 30 minutes of hitting in. I think we can be a really well-rounded team.”
The Tigers averaged 6.8 runs per game last season, and allowed 4.7.
Lamar won’t participate in a jamboree this season and opens the schedule March 17-20 with its Lamar Tiger Classic. The Tigers have 23 games scheduled, not including their tournament, which is more than usual. They played 19 each of the last two seasons and haven’t played more than 21 since 2015.
“We’ve strengthened our schedule and picked up some teams we haven’t played in a while and a few more trips up north to teams like Adrian,” Lundine said.
