Prospects good for Wolverine baseball’s return

Enough interest to field JV team
Wed, 03/29/2017 - 10:15am

It looks like baseball will return to Wiscasset Middle High School this spring. There appears to be enough interest for the Wolverines to compete at the junior varsity level.

In response to an email from the Wiscasset Newspaper, Athletic Director-Assistant Principal Mandy Lewis stated she’s working on setting up a seven to nine-game schedule for junior varsity. As of Monday, March 27, 11 students had signed up. The first practice is Monday, April 3 in the school gym.

Weather permitting, the first game is April 28, at home. The Wolverines will host a junior varsity team from Brunswick High School. On May 3, WMHS will play the Dragons again in Brunswick. On May 8, the Wolverines will travel to Richmond to play the Bobcats, then host Richmond on May 17.

According to Lewis, Gregg Wood of Wiscasset is returning to coach the team. Last year, his first season, Wood led the Wolverines to the Mountain Valley Conference Class C playoffs. The Wolverines finished the season with a respectable 8-9 record. Daren Wood was named to the MVC first team all-stars and teammate Jake Traylor received an honorable mention.

The Wolverines lost a good deal of their starting lineup to graduation. The 2016 team roster varied throughout the season from 11 to 14 players. Due to a lack of interest, there weren’t enough players to form a junior varsity team. In January, Lewis informed the school committee WMHS would be cancelling varsity baseball due to a lack of participants.

Committee member Eugene Stover had encouraged Lewis not to give up on the program.

This year’s team will include boys from grades nine through 12. Lewis said when there’s a varsity program, seniors aren’t typically involved on a junior varsity team. She said this year’s junior varsity team will have seniors. Lewis hopes to schedule games with MVC high schools and others.

Gordon Campbell of Wiscasset will return to coach the Wolverines varsity softball team. The team has a 14-game schedule and remains a part of the Class C MVC. The team will also begin practicing next week in the gym. The team’s first regular season game is April 24 when the Wolverines host Hall-Dale.

Along with baseball and softball, the high school offers tennis and track and field.