Fairfield Baseball Preview: Lions gained experience, taking next step

Last year under Tony Haley in his first season as the head coach of the Fairfield Lions, the young team had no seniors and were forced to learn to play at the varsity level on the fly, so to speak. 

This year is a different story for the young Lions, as they’ve had one year to mature as baseball players with all they experienced last season and in summer baseball to use with Haley in his second season leading the Fairfield squad to overall improvement. 

For the Lions, they have six seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and four freshmen for their 14-player varsity roster. 

Seniors are Randy Lamme, Nike Hurless, Mitch Rose, Brad Bumgarner, Hunter Dixon and Wyatt Harris. The junior class is Klay Walker and Mason Cain. 

Sophomores are Cody Gragg and Tucker Ayres, while the freshman class consists of Austin Setty, Sam Buddelmeyer, Layne Morgan and Matthew Spears. 

“I’m excited. We didn’t lose anyone off of last year’s team, plus we got some new guys, three or four new freshmen coming in who I’ve seen grow up playing summer baseball,” Haley said. “We are looking forward to (the season). We have a good class of seniors and underclassmen who got to play a lot last year. We are very excited about going into the year.”

One of the takeaways from last season, where the Lions finished 8-11 overall and 7-5 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, was the experience gained by those who were a part of the roster, and that’s something Haley said has helped his team thus far this preseason and should help into this regular season. 

“Gaining experience last year was big,” he said. “There is a big difference between a 15-year-old freshman against an 18-year-old senior, that’s big, so last year they got to play all the time last year, and that helps this year.”

With every team, pitching is very important … in fact, it could the the most important part of any ball club. For the Lions, that is no exception, and they have a couple solid pitchers in seniors Dixon and Rose whom they are looking to lead the pack for their underclassmen. 

“Our main pitcher is Hunter Dixon. He’s a senior, he’ll be the ace of the staff,” Haley said. “We also have Mitch Rose who’ll be the No. 1 catcher, but he’s also a pitcher. He’ll get a lot of innings pitching, too. 

“We have a few freshmen that look really good so far, but of course you are only as good as your pitching, and Coach Grazilla has been working with them a lot. They’ve done a lot right, and hopefully that carries over into games.”

Having a senior catcher hasn’t gone unnoticed by Haley, either. 

“Mitch has played a lot of summer ball, and he’s got a lot of experience,” the FHS head coach said. “He calls a really good game, and having a senior catcher, where he can control our pitching staff, should be really good.”

The infield of the Lions could be a mix of at least three different grades, and the outfield is still looking for one final member to the opening day lineup. 

“We have a real young infield. We have a good blend, and things are coming along,” Haley told The Highland County Press. “Our outfield will be led by Randy Lamme (a ’15 All-SHAC selection), and I’m moving an infielder to the outfield in Cody Gragg, so we’re still looking for someone else. We are seeing a lot of good things, but we hope they step up and accept the challenge.”

As for a challenge in terms of the team, the Lions’ non-conference slate of games this season include: Blanchester, Paint Valley, East Clinton, Mount Healthy, McClain, Georgetown, Washington, and Clinton-Massie. 

As the season is nearly here, Haley and his players are ready for the real games to begin.

“Last year was my first year with the team, but with the guys we have returning and seeing them play now, I think we should be competitive and give teams something to think about,” he said. “We expect to have more competitive games, so I’m thinking we should be a lot better. 

“Right now, I like the way we hustle and the way we run the bases. We haven’t been outside much, but I like the way they hustle and their attitudes. They want to play as a team, and it should be a fun year. We have 14 guys on the varsity team, and if each one does their job, we should be in a lot of games.”