EudoraNews.com

For Eudora baseball coach Shaun Edmonson, a winning baseball team has to have four things.

If his team can excel in three of the four, he doesn't see anything to worry about.

"You have to pitch it extremely well, you have to play solid defense behind our pitcher and obviously our offensive attack is important," he said. "You have to do those three components, then obviously you have to have a desire to win and I think we definitely have that."

Entering his first year as head coach, Edmonson inherits several key members of last year's 12-6 squad whom he thinks will provide a solid foundation and, at the end of the season, be competitive.

Five seniors return from last year's squad, and all five will contribute to the team in one aspect or another.

Brian White returns for his senior season as the logical choice to man the top slot in the pitching rotation. A year ago he posted a 5-1 record and earned All-Area Second Team honors from the Lawrence Journal-World.

"Nothing is set in stone, obviously, and they'll all have to compete for their jobs," Edmonson said. "But I'd definitely expect him to get some time on the mound and do some nice things."

He has the most experience of any pitcher on the team and feels good after recovering from an ACL injury he sustained at the end of June in summer basketball. He received the doctor's release on March 10, and now has high expectations for himself and the team in 2008.

"It feels amazing right now. It felt good to be back throwing," he said. "Our goals are like every team's goals, to go to state and win it."

Fellow senior Morgan Abel was one player who impressed Edmonson in early practices and could be another option on the mound.

"There are some other guys that have thrown a couple of bullpens at this point, some guys that we didn't necessarily expect to do a lot of pitching that have thrown very good bullpens so they'll get the opportunity," Edmonson said. "Like Morgan Abel, he looked really good."

Matthew Abel, another senior and cousin of Morgan, returns as the team's incumbent in the centerfield and leadoff spots. He stole 22 bases and hit .444 a year ago and earned All-Area First Team honors.

The last of Eudora's returning All-Area members is pitcher and third baseman Chad Krutz. Krutz made the First Team after he knocked in 15 runs at the plate and posted a 2.47 ERA on the hill.

"All of our seniors have an opportunity to be bigtime players," Edmonson said. "The kids show up everyday. It's definitely a good place to be and I feel excited to be here."

As far as underclassmen go, White said sophomore Evan Cleveland - among others - has impressed so far.

"He supported our team a lot last year, but he's going to probably play a major role for us this year at second," he said. "And then we've lost two of our outfielders but Zach Bryant will hopefully be stepping up. Everywhere else, we're pretty strong."

But some things remain to be seen as inclement weather has restricted Eudora to predominantly indoor work. However, since it is Edmonson's first year as head coach he said it hasn't slowed the team's progress. He used the time indoors to work on things that can be covered in a classroom setting, such as mental aspects like cutoffs and mechanics. He also said the facilities in Eudora High have allowed him to get a lot done.

"Facility-wise, it's very nice. We can have three guys hitting at the same time and then in the gym it's pretty spacious and we're able to get a lot of defensive stuff accomplished there," he said. "We haven't really allowed it (the weather) to affect us. You can't control it, so there's no point in complaining about it."

Eudora opens its season March 27 at home against Gardner Edgerton, a team Edmonson should be familiar with.

"(The coach is) a former Neosho (County) player, which is one of the schools I've coached at so I'm kind of familiar with his philosophy," he said. "Gardner's talented in all sports, so I'm sure it'll be a good test for us."