LBCC Set to Take Another Shot at Championship

After leading the southern conference last year with co champions Mount Hood, the roadrunners are poised to bring home yet another title to LBCC. Greg Hawk has helped build a legacy for the team over the extent of his tenure as head coach that is 25 years deep and 6 regional and conference titles high, success he attributes to what he calls a “blue collar program” that centers around hard work and repetition. “Guys that came here and didn’t go to the big schools play with a chip on their shoulder, and they’re going to go out and battle you all day long. And if they don’t get it done we’re going to retool and we’ll be back the next day better,” says Hawk.
After a fielding a strong sophomore group last year, the Roadrunners may be suffering from the displacement of a few key roles.

Notably on the defensive end where changes were made that brought fresh players to the forefront. Last year MVP conference Pitcher Liam Baron is expected to step into a leadership role on the team previously filled by center fielder Mitchell Nelson who now plays at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Baron may be standing alone on the mound however as the turnover of a fresh team shows a lack of support from the bullpen.

Says Hawk,“Our depth on the mound isn’t what we thought it would be, coming into the spring we lost a couple guys to injury and our number two pitcher just didn’t want to go to school.” As it currently stands the only relief for the Australian star may be former freshmen all south relief pitcher Trevor Smith who doubled last year as an infielder . “Pitching and defense is what’ll win you championships” says Hawk “We’re just not sure how our defense club and infield are going to perform yet. That was a strength last year and we’ve got to grow in that position. We’ve got good players, they just haven’t gone through the repetitions. After a few games I think we’ll be right back where we were.”

The outfield suffers from no such shortage of talent as the grassline will be guarded by three all conference players that help comprise the core of powerhitters the team has been gifted with this year. Returning 6’2” right fielder Blaine Goodwin is one of six players in the lineup that come from a background of being a clean-up hitter. Says Goodwin, “I think we’re looking pretty good, we’ve got a lot of swingers. I really think we can make things happen.” Help from the plate should produce exciting results in the Roadrunners season and help offset any kinks that need to be worked out during initial games.

“We’ve got big outfielders that can run and hit. We’ve got some big hitters, I like our chances we’re going to score a lot of runs and if we play defense we’re going to win a lot of games. Im excited to watch them play. I’m excited for the season to start, I wish we were starting today.” says Hawk. LBCC is set to kick off their season on Feb. 28 against Gray’s Harbor at The Dalles with their first game against last year’s rival Mount Hood taking place on March 26.