New coach leading SHS baseball team

SANDPOINT — “One at a time” is one of the oldest cliches in sports, but one thing the Sandpoint baseball team won’t do in 2009 is look too far ahead and forget about the task at hand.

New coach Chris Young takes the reigns of the program in 2009, becoming the third different head coach in the last four years.

As an assistant coach last season under Doug Semones, who left to take a football coaching job at Yale, Young felt the team jumped out to a strong early start, and maybe began to get a little ahead of themselves. He’s preaching the one-at-a-time message to his team this year, hoping it results in a trip to the state playoffs.

Young is also hoping to bring some stability to skipper position, thankful for the opportunity to learn under previous coaches Mike Givens and Rick Klontz, and hoping to end the tough situation of a player having to adjust to a new coach.

“It’s been a dream of mine to coach high school baseball,” said Young, who was a closer on junior college baseball teams in California and Kansas. “They’ve (players) been put in an awkward situation and it’s hard to focus. I hope to change that; it’s very much my intention to be here for years.”

This year’s team features seven players who logged a lot of varsity innings last year, led by junior short stop and pitcher Ben Fisher, who threw a no-hitter last season against Coeur d’Alene. He’ll be counted on as the team’s ace, and also to produce runs in the middle of the order.

“When he’s on the mound, I expect wonderful things,” said Young of Fisher. “He’ll be the one that leads us this year.”

Fellow captain Jake Semones is a three-year letterman, and will hit lead-off and also log some starts on the hill. The senior will jump start a line-up that hopes to play small ball, depending more on moving runners and playing station to station than on home runs. Senior Ricky Lang will hit second in the order, moving runners and also looking to steal some bases. Young has been telling his team to stress occupying second base.

That they’ll focus more on small ball is not to say there aren’t some power bats in the lineup. Seniors Cole Tonnemacher and Jordan Hammack both have plenty of pop in their bats, and will provide a presence in the middle of the order. Both power hitters will also join Semones and Fisher in rounding out the pitching rotation.

“Hammack is a good pitcher and he started shining late last year. I expect big things out him this year,” said Young, also praising the all-around game of Tonnemacher. “Cole is extremely good defensively at first base and will have to be one of our top pitchers.”

Jonas Cafferty and Cory Neer will split time behind the plate, and Bryce Olin, Daniel Charvoz, Joel Cramer and Andrew Pearlstein will help round out the line-up.

The team opens the season today at the Lewiston Tournament, and will play two games on Saturday. Heretofore confined to practicing in a gymnasium, this weekend marks the first time all year the Bulldogs get to take an actual diamond.