Prep baseball preview

This "Rock Band" has three guitars and two vocal talents. South's MAverick Miles, East's Noah Holmes, West's Jon Crucitti, Carson's Gunnar Hogan and Salsibury's Jeremy Forbes. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

North Rowan's Dakota Brown ready for the new high school baseball season. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

East Rowan Noah Holmes' bat will targeted by South's Maverick Miles, West's Jon Crucitti, Carson's Gunner Hogan and Salisbury's Jeremy Forbes. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Mike London

mlondon@salisburypost.com

East Rowan coach Brian Hightower spent a snowy night earlier this week walking his son's new dog, but he'd rather have been barking at umpires.

According to the schedule, a new baseball season has officially arrived, although sunshine, chirping robins and green grass still seem far, far away.

Carson coach Chris Cauble said his Cougars have only practiced on the field a handful of times because of the New Ice Age, and every coach is in the same boat.

Boats have been needed literally. It's been wet. It's been miserable.

It's already been an odd season. Catawba actually finished a game with snow falling. The Indians played another game with enough flaky white stuff piled in the Newman Park grandstand to construct a dozen snowmen.

Several high school teams played their openers Monday before a lingering blast of winter struck again Tuesday, forcing more postponements.

There were encouraging signs Monday. South got pitching and defense. Carson got pitching and defense.

North is already 2-0. Salisbury won its opener Thursday.

And those are the four teams we weren't sure about.

East and West are going to be good. That's something you can count on.

While eight of last season's 18 all-county players are back in uniform, including All-American Maverick Miles, at South, every team lost good people.

It's true that East reloads every spring, but the cleats of Corbin Shive, Zach Smith, David Ijames and Ben DeCelle will be challenging to fill. DeCelle was the least appreciated but may be the hardest to replace. All he did was get on base half the time and catch everything hit in the air to left field.

"We've lost great talent," Hightower admitted. "But I'm excited about this year. We've got a lot of eager guys who have been waiting for their chance to play."

Who will lead the Mustangs?

Slugging, slick-fielding third baseman Noah Holmes and hard-throwing, hard-hitting shortstop/pitcher Preston Troutman expect to do serious damage. Both have signed with Appalachian State.

New names to know at Staton Field include right-handed pitcher Thomas Allen, who has caught the eye of UNC Pembroke and Lenoir-Rhyne.

Hightower also has an unusual schedule. The Mustangs are playing their first three games in Georgia.

Hightower's father — who would take first place in a Joe Ferebee lookalike contest — is retired, but he's also the softball coach at Heritage High, one of the schools the Mustangs will face on their southern tour.

West has to replace some heroes, including Player of the Year catcher Hernan Bautista, but this is still a powerful team on paper.

Wright has an experienced pitching staff led by all-county D.J. Webb and tall lefty Zack Simpson. Center fielder Jon Crucitti, who sprints around like his buzz-cut is on fire for three West athletic squads, was all-county. He's a run-scoring machine and a superb defensive center fielder.

If Rowan County ever starts playing hockey — not a bad idea with this weather — Crucitti will be the No. 1 draft pick.

West infielder Hayden Untz has as sweet a lefty swing as anyone. Outfielder Patrick Hampton is a breakout candidate who homered opening day.

Who's got the most returning all-county players?

Your first guess probably wasn't Carson, but the Cougars have three proven all-county guys up the middle in second baseman Julio Zubillaga (.395 batting average), catcher Tyler Freeze (.385) and shortstop Gunnar Hogan (.372).

Then there's center fielder Zack Grkman, an ideal leadoff man who will walk, steal and score runs by the bushel.

Carson has to replace Scott Ashby's power and Will Misenheimer's rubber arm, but the Cougars are capable of improving on last season's 15-10.

The key? Could be slick southpaw Jesse "Wolverine" Park. Cauble needs a quality start from him every week.

South has a chance as long as it has Miles on the field. His numbers were ridiculous as a junior. The High Point signee batted a blistering .477 with an on-base percentage of .583.

Can South coach Thad Chrismon put together a sturdy enough lineup to entice pitchers to throw a fastball within a mile of Miles' bat?

That's the million-dollar question. A.L. Brown pitched to Miles twice on opening day. Double to left. Single to center.

Blake Houston excels at getting on base and chasing flyballs. Dylan Walker threw the heck out of the ball against the Wonders. There's hope.

If Cory Deason and Tyler Kowalczyk come through, there's serious hope.

South Stanly won the 1A championship last season. Obviously, it lost terrific players, but North Rowan's 9-6 opening-day road win over the Rowdy Rebel Bulls was still a wonderful 1A debut, and the Cavaliers followed up by 10-run ruling South Davidson.

The Cavaliers were 5-16 in 2009 and are without pitching ace Patrick Snider, who is battling cancer. But starting 2-0 means major confidence. Coach Rob Linder's team began 0-9 last year.

North has no all-county returners, but pitcher/leadoff man Dakota Brown came close last season. He batted .355.

Salisbury coach Scott Maddox graduated standouts in Forrest Buchanan and Russell Michalec. Michalec batted .350 with power and speed, while Buchanan was one base hit shy of .400. He was responsible for four of Salisbury's seven wins with his pitching.

Maddox will count on players such as Jeremy Forbis, John Knox and Nolan Meyerhoeffer to keep Salisbury competitive in the CCC.

A.L. Brown figures to be in every game that smooth Dylan May or aspirin-throwing John Tuttle pitches. Coach Empsy Thompson has eight starters back, including feisty, four-year varsity starter Wes Honeycutt.

Davie was young in 2009, but coach Mike Herndon has a stout junior class that features Jacob Barber, Alex Newman, Joe Watson and Carson Herndon. Barber made a recruiting visit to Charlotte last weekend.

Believe it or not, the weather wasn't bad at all in the Queen City. Maybe we've turned the corner.