Ferris Coach Looking For Big Hits Right Off The Bat

GSL baseball

The Ferris baseball team returns this year with the bulk of its lineup from 1996, when the Saxons won the Greater Spokane League title.

But in a league with so much parity - Shadle Park, Mead, and University all look to be much-improved - coach Jim Thacker says the Saxons’ fortunes hinge on finding a strong leadoff hitter and developing stability on the left side of the infield.

“We’d like to have a little more consistency,” Thacker said. “We had three different shortstops and two third basemen last year.”

On paper, the Lewis and Clark baseball team is very young and inexperienced. Just four seniors are back from a year ago, and the team is loaded with juniors.

The reason? Last year, coach Jim Travis kept his 12 returning sophomores together on the junior varsity in a development ploy he’s hoping will pay dividends this season.

“That was the plan,” said Travis, whose varsity finished just below .500 last year. “‘We kept the sophomores on B-squad so they could have a successful year.

“It gives them some confidence, and when they move up, they’re ready and the maturity level is there.”

“Aim high” has long been a mantra among coaches. That’s no different for Darryl Stephens, who takes over the reins at Gonzaga Prep this year.

“I assume we’re going to be champions, but we’ll have to go from there,” said Stephens.

Stephens replaces Pat Shine, who guided the Bullpups to a fourth-place finish last year before taking a college coaching job in San Francisco.

With teams from the perennially strong Big Nine dominating regionals, not since 1992 has a GSL team been to state. Ferris coach Thacker wants to change all that this year.

“We need to come up with a couple of players to fill our leadoff spot and fourth spot in the batting order,” he said, explaining that with poor weather making continuity in practice difficult, he hasn’t yet decided how to fill those roles.

One certainty will be the GSL MVP from a year ago, junior Eric Sandberg. Sandberg led the league in batting as just a sophomore.

A first baseman and pitcher, Sandberg will be throwing to one of the best defensive catchers in the league, junior Brian Munhall, a second-team All-GSL selection.

Second baseman Casey McVay, a junior, is joined in the infield by senior Jeff Dahmen, who missed most of last season at third base with a broken finger, and Chris Schurchart, who appears to be recovering from a midseason car accident last year that sidelined him for several months.

Two senior pitchers, Derek Fountain and Jim Gewalt, will share the mound with Seattle-area transfer Aaron Hare, also a senior.

Seniors Josh Guthmiller and Joel Soter and junior Joe Moll round out the Saxons’ lineup in the outfield.

Ferris opens the season this week, with a doubleheader in the Tri-Cities against Richland and Kennewick on Saturday.

Among the seven seniors at Lewis and Clark this spring, three are new to the baseball program.

Dan Johnson, an infielder and a pitcher, is a transfer from Gonzaga Prep, where he played as a sophomore.

Both the other newcomers, Isiah Howard and Brian Agnew, will pitch and play in the outfield.

Agnew, a former Tiger quarterback, is back in action after suffering a frightening ankle injury during the football season.

Among the returning seniors, both Ian Monroe and Chris Flatt will also split their time between pitching and another position.

Monroe will share infielding duties, and Flatt helps shore up the Tiger defense at first base.

Familiar faces Ben LaBounty and Ramon Canton will play in the outfield.

“We have some talent this year,” LC coach Travis said. “We played together in the summer, so it won’t be like we were coming into the season without experience.”

For first-year coach Stephens, coming to G-Prep is like coming home.

He graduated from G-Prep in 1979 and went on to a successful four-year career at Stanford University. There, he walked onto the baseball team and remains among the all-time leaders in several categories, including runs scored, fielding and batting.

Under him this year at G-Prep, a trio of South Hill players is led by first-team All-GSL outfielder and senior Mike Kucharhook.

Juniors Tom Black, an infielder, and Kurt Paras, a pitcher, join the varsity for the first time.