Mike Royston, a switch-hitting catcher from St. Andrews, looks to barrel-up with a wooden bat at a Shallywags scrimmage on Monday. (Shallotte Area Sports Photo/Barbara Myatt)
There’s a first time for everything and for the Shallotte Shallywags, a new team in the Old North State Baseball League, their much anticipated first game is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at West Brunswick’s Mike Alderson Field against Hope Mills.
The Wags feature a number of area players for a 40-game schedule in the college wooden bat league.
James Rice, who has played and coaches in the Old North State League, said Monday that Bobby Flemming will throw the first pitch on Wednesday night. Fleming is a right-hander from Brunswick Community College and will be joined by a handful of Dolphins teammates on the Shallotte roster.
Rice has landed several players he was familiar with in the league from last summer when he was at Kinston.
“Ryan Yaroshuk,” Rice said. “He played for the Tarboro River Bandits last summer. Jude Morton, he was with the New Bern Southpaws. Aiden Payne, he played with the Jacksonville Ospreys. Those are three of the big bats that we have in this lineup that I think are going to help us score a lot of runs and win us a lot of baseball games.”
The Old North State League uses wooden bats, which have a smaller effective hitting area than wood bats.
“It definitely is a change for these guys going from the (metal) bats to the wood, and that’s one of the things that I’ve been trying to get adjusted with, helping these players get adjusted with very quickly,” Rice said. “We’ve been taking a lot of swings our first couple of practice dates, just because throughout their college season they’re not swinging wood bats.
“Just getting a wood bat in their hands, it feels a little bit different. Obviously, the barrel doesn’t play like a BBCOR bat, so getting in their swings as many as possible while trying to stay as fresh as we can as we prepare for our 40-game season has been one of my major focal points through our first couple of practices.”
The Wags will have depth in terms of pitching.
“We have a pretty good number when it comes to our pitching staff,” Rice said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to have 16 on our pitching staff. Two or three of those guys are two-way guys, so they are pitchers and position players.
“In my experience in this league, this is my sixth year being part of the Old North State League pitching, usually if you have enough pitching and good enough pitching, that’s where you see the teams make it the furthest in this league.”
There are four divisions with six teams in each division. Shallotte is in the Coastal Division with the Hope Mills Rockfish, Jacksonville Ospreys, the Laurinburg Highland Hooligans, the Oak Island Loggerheads and the Sandhills Bogeys.
Rice grew up near Pittsburgh and is currently an assistant coach at Wilmington College in Ohio. He played collegiately at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania.
“We’re all really excited,” Rice said. “There’s going to be a lot of events going on in between innings. Again, it’s very family friendly and it’s going to be some pretty good baseball. We’re just hoping that we get some pretty good crowds. These guys deserve it and we’re going to do our best to do things the right way and bring some energy to Shallotte.”
General manager Stuart Champion said general admission tickets are $10 each. He has been busy seeking sponsors for the team and host families for players.
“We’re hoping and praying a bunch of people show up,” Champion said.
Shallotte is scheduled to be on the road Thursday for a 6 p.m. contest at Oak Island.
Aiden McBride of Southeastern Community College throws a pitch in a scrimmage on Mondayat West Brunswick. (Shallotte Area Sports Photo/Barbara Myatt)
The Shallywags have been working in the community to promote the new team. Coach James Rice (left) and assistant general manager Steve Prokop are shown at a meet and greet on Sunday at Wings&Fish.
(Shallotte Area Sports Photo/W.A. Myatt)
