A new face for Lexington

A new face is leading the Lexington baseball team. Ryan Blaine, a 1993 graduate of Tuttle High School, has nearly 25 years of coaching experience. He’s most recently been at a Shawnee middle school.

He played baseball at OBU from 1993 to 1997 and was a member of the 1996 team that played in the College World Series.

“I learned baseball from my dad at a young age and I just had that baseball IQ,” Blaine said.

He will bring his knowledge and experience to the Bulldogs, who were knocked out of the postseason in 2022 by Kiefer. They had a 7-24 record.

“One thing we’ll have to work on is the ‘we belong’ mind set. The guys have committed to a willingness to do the things I’m asking and approach the game the way I coach.”

Last year’s team lost just one senior, Gus Turnpaugh, so Blaine will have a team full of guys with some experience under their belt.

“We’re sophomore and junior-heavy. They’ll carry us this season. A few freshmen will see varsity action, too,” Blaine said.

Senior Ezra Faulkenberry is the team’s “security blanket”, according to Blaine. He’ll be in center field.

Corbin Perry, Zeke Faulkenberry, Logan Carroll, Hunter Olson and Kaden Wells will split time in the outfield also.

Junior Drew Dierking will be an anchor on the infield. He will be the man on the mound some and spend time at shortstop.

Ty Mixon will be at third, Dax Beason will be at second, Skylar Rollins will be at first.

Payton Arnold and freshman Cale Garver will have catcher duties.

Blaine also mentioned freshman Colby Haynes.

“He’s a special freshman. He’ll play all over the field. He’s a baseball player and can play anywhere.”

Lexington started their season Saturday with a 7-1 loss to Meeker.

“We made some mistakes in the field and we just did not throw enough strikes,” Blaine said.

Offensively, the coach said his guys got a hold of the ball in their at-bats, but the balls were hit right to Meeker.

They dropped a 8-3 decision with Christian Heritage on Monday. They were slated to play again on Tuesday.

Blaine said he’s optimistic about the season but that Lexington’s margin for error was small.

“We’ve set some goals for ourselves and they’re definitely attainable. We want to make a Regional tournament and to do that we’ll have to place top 4 in our District. We have a tough district, so we’ll have to capitalize when we get opportunities.”