A new era started yesterday in Rowan County American Legion baseball.
Rowan, which has had one of the strongest programs in the state for almost a half century, has a new coach, Jim Gantt.
Gantt, also Catawba College’s head coach, served as an assistant under former coach Jim DeHart the past 11 years. Gantt will be only the third man to coach Rowan in the last 35 years. Joe Ferebee coached Rowan from 1967 through 1989, then DeHart coached the next 11 years.
Rowan was 32-13 in DeHart’s final season, finishing second in the first state tournament held in Granite Falls.
Rowan will have a new look in the field, too, with stars like Daniel Moore (North Carolina), Brian Hatley (Catawba), Brett Peiffer (Davidson) and Nathan Woodburn (East Carolina) now playing college ball and starting catcher Brad Canipe also gone.
“Anytime you lose players like that, you can’t replace it. But in Rowan County, there seems to always be somebody coming along. You don’t forget about those guys. You remember them, but new ones make names for themselves. I expect that to happen,” said Gantt.
“When you lose somebody behind the plate (Canipe), you lose that experience and leadership. That’s going to be tough to replace. Woodburn and Peiffer: Both of those guys offensively could get on fire and just carry a team. Woodburn had a great arm and could run. Peiffer had a lot of physical tools.”
Key returnees are shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. (.389 batting average, 71 runs, 43 runs batted in and 33 stolen bases); catcher-infielder Drew Davis (.373, 14 doubles); outfielder Nick Lefko (.282); first baseman-catcher Ben Hampton(six homers, 38 RBIs); pitcher Spencer Steedley (5-1, 3.41 earned run average); pitcher Julian Sides (5-4, 3.95 ERA); pitcher Brandon Doby (4-1, 3.75); and pitcher Phillip Goodman (2-0, ERA).
“I expect a lot of good things out of Cal,” said Gantt of the third-year starter from East Rowan High School. “He’s kind of your quarterback there in the infield. He can be as good as he wants to be. He’s got a lot of natural tools and tremendous speed on the basepaths.”
Davis(East Rowan), who played a lot of positions last year, will concentrate on catching this time.
“He probably could catch for most college teams now. He’s a good player; he’s got great hands,” said the coach.
Lefko (East Rowan) is a great defensive right fielder.
“He’s got a real good throwing arm and gets a good jump. Offensively, he’s streaky. He’ll be on fire for awhile and carry a team,” said his coach.
Hampton (West Rowan), a left-handed hitter with power, is expected to improve on his .264 average.
“He’s got a lot of power. All of his home runs that he hit (in high school games this past season) while I was there, most of them were all to left-center. Last summer, he didn’t hit the ball to all fields. It was nice to see him go to the opposite field,” said Gantt.
He expects a lot out of returning pitchers Steedley, Sides, Doby and Goodman.
“Steedley and Sides are two left-handers. There’s a lot of places that would like to have two left-handers as some of their top pitchers. They got to pitch last summer and gained experience. They both pitched well for East Rowan. I’m looking for good things out of them.
“Goodman and Doby, both from North, will be back. Goodman had some arm trouble in the fall, I understand, and now he’s got straightened out in the spring. Doby hasn’t been as successful this spring as maybe he had hoped. It may just be some mechanical things.”
Other returning players are first baseman Shawn Trosper (West Rowan), who is solid defensively, and third baseman Bobby Parnell(East), who made the team last year before ever playing high school varsity ball.
Of the newcomers, Gantt expects Jimbo Davis and Aaron Rimer, both from North, to help a lot.
“Davis had a good year. He hit a home run against Salisbury at Newman Park that was really unbelievable. He has a short swing and a lot of pop in his hands — a real quick bat. ... Rimer is a good outfielder. He’s had a good year,” said Gantt.
Davis hit six homers for the Cavaliers, while Rimer had the highest batting average in the county, .507.
Other players who have signed up for the team include:
Daniel Cauble, Cory Ruff and Clay Everson, West; Jason Cauble, Jacob Cooper, Brent Jones, Tyler Morgan, Tyler Poole and Stephen Gegorek, East; Richard Dailey, Tommy Ludwig, Barry Medinger and Todd Utech, Salisbury; and Aaron Corby and Bubba Morris, North.
“I think defensively we can be pretty sound,” said Gantt. “I think team speed will be pretty good.
“Offensively, we will probably have a slow start. We’ll have to hit some and get together as a team, and then get them comfortable hitting with or behind or in front of certain players. We may ask them to do some things they might not have done in high school. We’re going to have to find out what suits our team.”
With four returners on the mound, he expects the pitching staff to do well, but knows it will be difficult to replace Moore (7-1, 2.48) and Hatley (8-1, 2.64).
“When you have two key guys on the mound like that, any particular day you can beat anybody in the state. We’ll see if that happens with the guys that we have now,” he said.
Rowan opens its season with 10 straight home games.
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