By Chris Parker
Sarcoxie baseball is poised for a big season with nine starters returning from last season’s 10-win team.
“This group of guys has been through a lot,” Sarcoxie head coach Chris Mettlach said. “They’ve all started since their freshman year and have battled through inexperience and adversity and have just continued to improve each day. We return five all-Conference/all-district players from last year’ss team and basically our entire roster. This team will fight you and grind their way to success, doing whatever it takes. We expect to throw strikes and be routine defensively and manufacture runs however we have to.”
This season’s senior group marks the first that Mettlach has had all four years as head coach of Sarcoxie.
“I’m really excited about this group and really proud of the program they have built at Sarcoxie,” Mettlach said. “It hasn’t been an easy turn around and we ask a lot of them. They always respond and are just a really great group to coach.”
The infield will feature Tyler Lambeth (junior shortstop), Kole Flynn (junior second base), Marshall Hall (junior first base), Kole Kellhofer (sophomore first/third base) and Leam Atkinson (sophomore third base) will be on the infield.
Lambeth earned all-conference and all-district honors last season. Lambeth hit .324 with 14 RBI and 27 runs scored last season.
Kellhofer was also all-conference and all-district. He had an OPS of .833 with 15 RBI.
Greyson Phelps (junior) returns as the starting catcher. Flynn and Trace Lee (freshman) could get some time catching as well.
Abram Pogue (junior), Landen Straw (sophomore), Lee, Zach Xiong (junior) are all in the mix in the outfield.
Carter Phillips (junior) and Lane Everts (senior) are a pair of all-conference and all-district selections who will be out significant time with injuries. Phillips was the team’s ace on the mound.
Both will be missed on the field.
“Lane Everts is our only senior and he is the heartbeat of our team,” Mettlach said. “He brings a relentless passion and energy to the game every day that is contagious for our guys. Our entire junior class now has a lot of games under the belt and will need to step into leadership roles as well.”
Flynn, Hall and Kellhofer all threw more than 20 innings last season. Flynn had 26 innings pitched with 24 strikeouts and a 2.42 ERA. Hall threw 20.2 innings with 25 strikeouts. Kellhofer threw 20.2 innings with 25 strikeouts.
Atkinson will look to eat more innings this season. Pogue, Everts, Phelps and Lambeth will also look to have an impact on the mound.
Improvement has been evident up and down the roster.
“It is really hard to pin down individual players that have made the most improvement as they all have made huge strides,” Mettlach said. “Every starter in our program started baseball games as a freshman, which is tough to do. Their overall growth and excitement for the game has been fun to be a part of as a coach.”
Sarcoxie opens the season on Mar. 19 at New Heights Christian.
“I want this team to be gritty and compete with every team on our schedule. I thought we mostly did that last year but didn’t quite get over the hump in some games. This year we will hopefully have the experience and grit to get it done,” Mettlach said. “Our only goal and expectation for each season is to be the best possible team we can be in the second week of May. Our goal every year will be to compete for a district championship.”
