By Byron Beers/Staff Writer

First-year head coach Jason Looper doesn’t quite know what to expect from his El Reno baseball team heading into the 2007 season.

The Indians are coming off a 13-24 record from a year ago and will open at home against Deer Creek at 4 p.m. Thursday.

El Reno has scrimmaged six times in February in preparing for its season opener. They faced U.S. Grant Monday and Bethany on Tuesday, both at home.

Looper has liked what he has seen from his pitching staff, but feels the offense has been inconsistent as well as the defense.

“We’ve had four scrimmages and overall we’ve pitched pretty good,” Looper said. “We started off swinging the bats really good, but we’ve gone into a little bit of a lull.

“The main thing that is going to hurt us right now is our defense. We’ve been making four or five errors a game and we’ve just been giving teams too many runs. Against Blanchard we just gave them six runs off errors.”

Six starters return from last year, including seniors Joe Halley, Clint Maune and Chandon Vieweg. The trio led the Indians offensively last year as the top three hitters. They will be the heart of the lineup with Halley batting third, Maune at the cleanup spot and Vieweg hitting fifth.

“We have three guys that I would consider to be power hitters,” Looper said. “Early on we will probably do a lot of bunting and play small ball.

“We haven’t been outside since Christmas hardly, except for the scrimmages, so it’s still early for our hitting. Once that stuff starts to come around, we will play for big innings, but we’re not going to hit it off the wall all day long.”

El Reno hit .277 as a team last year with 24 home runs and 148 RBIs. The Indians had a .396 on base percentage.

Halley and Maune have both already signed to play college baseball.
Halley, who inked with Vernon College (Texas) in January, returns as the starting shortstop and led El Reno with a .402 batting average. He was second in runs batted in with 29 and scored a team-high 28 runs.

Halley will also see ex\tended time on the mound where he went 2-1 last fall, allowing nine earned runs in 14.1 innings of work. He recorded 20 strikeouts and issued 12 walks.

“He’s one of our top hitters and I look for him to have a good year for us,” Looper said.

Maune will be the ace of the pitching staff. The Wichita State University signee pitched in 16 innings over the fall and allowed just five hits, struck out 35 and walked 12.

Maune, a 6-foot-3 lefthander, also had a strong summer for the Elk City Travelers under former El Reno head coach Mark Ward. He posted a 5-1 won-loss record in six starts and had a 3.10 earned run average through 38.1 innings. Maune registered 46 strikeouts, allowed 31 hits and issued 11 walks.

Maune was also highly productive at the plate as a junior where he hit .319 with a team-high nine home runs and 30 RBIs. He also had nine doubles and 22 runs scored.

Vieweg returns as a starter at second base. He was second on the team in hitting as a junior with a .347 average. He hit four home runs and knocked in 22 runs and led the Indians with 10 doubles.

“Chandon is a guy that can play about anywhere for us,” Looper said. “He’s played catcher and has seen time at third base.”

Vieweg will also see time at pitcher along with junior Jared Krittenbrink, junior Caleb Koos and senior Trendon Johnson.

“We have a pretty good core for our pitching staff with good depth,” Looper said. “Clint and Joe will be our hard throwers and kids like Chandon and Caleb can come in and throw some junk which will help us keep hitters off balance.”

Joining Halley and Vieweg as starters on the infield will be either senior Lawrence Rhoades or freshman Tyler Palmer at catcher, senior Jay Weekley at first base and junior Justin Ferguson at third.

Weekley hit .177 as a junior in 94 plate appearances. He was second on the team with five home runs and drove in 10.

Ferguson will be the most inexperienced of the bunch. He had just three trips to the plate last year and will have the biggest shoes to fill with the departure of Scott Gholston, who hit .302 as a senior last season.

Rhoades hit .237 with three doubles as a junior.

In the outfield, sophomore Austin Feddersen will start in left, sophomore Jarrod Cole will be in center and Koos in right.

This will be Feddersen’s first go-around with the varsity. Cole hit .174 in 24 plate appearances as a freshman. Koos batted .253 with three homers and 21 RBIs in his first year.

Sophomore Hunter Epperson will see time in both the outfield and infield.

The Indians will follow Thursday’s season opener against Deer Creek with a road game at Yukon on Friday at 4:30 p.m. They will be at home on Monday for a 4:30 p.m. start against Chickasha.