Next year isn’t waiting for the South Effingham Mustangs baseball team.
Just minutes after his team’s 2007 season ended with a loss to Columbus in the Class AAA state semifinals, coach Tony Kirkland was thinking ahead to the 2008 campaign. For the Mustangs, it won’t start in early March. It starts sooner, much sooner, than that.
“I’ll get started next week,” Kirkland said. “We’ll be at it playing somewhere next weekend.”
When the Mustangs begin 2008, having been to the state semifinals three times in the preceding four seasons, they will have some holes to plug in their lineup. No. 2 hitter Paul Cheeks has graduated, as have Nos. 5 and 6 in the lineup, center fielder Kiefer Youmans and third baseman Waylon Pickard.
Also with diplomas in hand are first basemen Matt Tufts and Walt Armstrong and pitcher Ryan Cole.
Yet the Mustangs, who finished 21-12, may have some pieces in place to step into the cleats of a senior class that went 93-32 overall and 38-6 against region opponents.
Of the South Effingham pitchers who took the mound in the playoffs, only Cole isn’t returning. Jesse Osborne went 2-1 in four postseason starts, including a complete-game win over West Laurens, and reliever Matt Zettler appeared in eight of the nine playoff games, picking up a win and a save.
Zettler struck out 11 and allowed nine hits in 12 1/3 innings, with an earned run average of 1.66 in the playoffs.
The Mustangs also got big innings out of Patrick Styblo, who started two games, Zach Anderson and Stephen Vaughn.
“Every one of them is back, except for Cole,” Kirkland said. “I feel real good about our replacements at third base and first base, and I feel real good about our young guys in the outfield.
“We finished with two seniors in the outfield and two in the infield,” he said. “Everyone else was a young guy.”
Anderson and Styblo were part-time starters in the outfield this season and the Mustangs also return the keystone combination of shortstop Colby May and second baseman Chris Zittrouer. Also returning for next year will be catcher and cleanup hitter John Roberts.
In addition, outfielder Jace Daley and infielder Michael Miller were called on in the late stages of some playoff games as the Mustangs juggled their pitching staff. Also, several younger players were used as pinch-runners and courtesy runners.
With the recent senior class having been a part of or witness to three Final Fours, Kirkland hopes the 2007 playoff experience will rub off on his returnees.
“They got a little taste of it,” he said. “And when things taste good, you want a little more of it. Hopefully, it’s going to come into play.”
The Mustangs have set their expectations on reaching the Final Four, until they clear that bar and get to a state title appearance. This year’s team hit the mark despite the early-season injuries and illnesses that robbed them of nearly a half-dozen expected full-time or part-time starters.
“We perservered through,” Kirkland said.
It was also a bittersweet ending for the coach and his seniors, the first group of players to come through the program since he took it over four years ago, and he’s not bashful about his connection with his players.
“I love them, and they know that,” Kirkland said. “These kids know this coaching staff loves them dearly. You build special bonds, and that’s why you coach.”
