By Chris Parker
Lincoln baseball has a new head coach for the first time in 30 seasons after Will Lynde retired at the conclusion of last season.
Lincoln native Connor Spunaugle takes over as head coach with fellow Lincoln alumnus Mason Sanders serving as his assistant coach.
“You never want to be the guy behind the guy as Coach Lynde left massive shoes to fill. He won 350-plus games during his time here and multiple district championships. I am grateful for all of the knowledge he shared during my time playing for and coaching for him,” Spunaugle said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to coach where I am from and with one of my best friends. We played summer ball together growing up, went and played at SFCC together and now getting to coach together is just a super cool full circle moment. Coach Sanders was formerly the head coach at Walnut Grove.”
Spunaugle has an experienced team returning in his first season with seven starters back.
“Our strength this spring will be experience,” Spunaugle said. “There aren’t many situations this group hasn’t seen on the field in their playing days. We have a lot of strike throwers on the staff and some guys that can put pressure on the base paths, so we hope to give other teams fits with our pitchers attacking the zone and our base runners being aggressive on the base paths.”
Riley Sanders (senior SS), Hunter Vandaveer (senior 3B), Tunner Kreisler (senior 2B), Chance Koll (junior SS/3B) and Grayson Rutherford (sophomore catcher) will be some of the players to watch on the infield.
The outfield will feature Dawson Parrott (senior), Ethan Goosen (senior), Braeden Ferguson (sophomore), Damien Tanguma (sophomore) and a few others.
Vandaveer, Riley Sanders, Parrott, Turnner Kreisler, Koll, Grayson Rutherford and a talented freshman group will all have the opportunity to pitch.
While Lincoln has a deep freshman class coming in, it will be the senior class that sets the tone.
“All of our seniors that have been with us all four years (will be leaders),” Spunaugle said. “They have played a lot of baseball in the summers and even some big games in the spring. They have played in three district championships in their career so we’re hoping that experience will be able to lead us to success this spring.”
Lincoln opens the season on Mar. 20 at Versailles.
“We are very pleased with the overall improvement from all of our guys. They work really hard in the weight room. They almost all play other sports and just athletically have taken strides that we are excited to see translate to the diamond,” Spunaugle said. “We have built a challenging schedule for these guys to hopefully get tested throughout the season and prepare them for playoff baseball.”
