Wilkins key to Lightning possibilities

Barry Faulkner

The Sage Hill School baseball team is hoping to earn something this

season that its star, Tim Wilkins, already has: credibility.

Wilkins, now a junior, hit .493 last season (33 for 67) with 24

RBIs, 19 runs, 13 steals, 15 extra-base hits and an .821 slugging

percentage.

He was first-team All-Academy League and also became the first

Lightning athlete to make an All-Newport-Mesa Dream Team.

Meanwhile, the Lightning was 6-16, 1-14 in the Academy League, in

its first varsity season last spring.

Senior Zach Friedrichs is expected to share shortstop and headline

the starting rotation with Wilkins. Wilkins and Friedrichs are

expected to man the Nos. 3 and 4 spots in the batting order, while

sophomore Matt Loper, a starting guard on the basketball team, is

expected to add production in the No. 5 spot, according to first-year

coach Bert Emerson, who comes from College of the South, a Division

III school in Tennessee, for which he was an assistant for two years

and also played.

Emerson, 26, who teaches English at Sage, said he will work with

the pitchers and infielders. He said he has already succeeded in

instilling a greater degree of discipline and the players have

responded to his request for a stronger work ethic.

Additional pitching help is expected from junior left-hander

Jordan Salinger, as well as Loper, sophomore David Packard and

freshman Zack Shockley, Emerson said.

Junior Matt Kornswiet and sophomore George Dempsey, who opened the

season at first base, will handle the catching chores, while Loper

helps solidify the defense at second.

Packard and Cliff Swanson, a senior, are both expected to see time

at the hot corner.

Salinger, the projected leadoff man, is the front-runner in right

field, while junior Chris Chiboucas is Emerson’s choice in center.

Freshman Zach Milder, who has impressed Emerson with his athletic

ability, is expected to battle juniors Ray Lim and Peter Haderlein

for time in left field.

Junior Matt Sanford, as well as freshmen Andrew Winterman, Brendan

Mangnitz, Kyle Ramer and Michael Morgan are expected to add depth

while gaining seasoning for the future.

The Lightning continues its preleague campaign today with a

doubleheader against the Carlsbad-based Army Navy Academy.