Wolves Looking to Build On Success from Last Season
The 2024 season saw the Co-Lin Baseball team finish 27-25 overall, 15-13 in conference play and sixth overall in conference standings earning their first postseason appearance since the 2021 season. However, the Wolves dropped two straight in their best-of-three Region 23 play-in series against Meridian to finish the season 27-27 overall. With the 2025 season on the horizon for the Wolves, head coach Adam Chamblee said he is excited about the upcoming year and growing the expectations for his team.
"We are looking forward to taking the field with this new group of guys," stated Chamblee. "We feel like we basically have a brand-new team because we have a ton of freshmen on this squad. These are players that we recruited heavily to come here to play at Co-Lin and they bought into our vision for the program. I am looking forward to seeing what this group can do and see so many of them contribute to even more success than what we had last season."
"27 wins was a great number for us last season, but one of our goals is to win more than that this season," added Chamblee. "As long as we are playing good baseball and staying healthy, I think this team can win 35 games this season and I am excited about seeing that potential for this team. I am also excited to see our sophomores get more opportunities and chances on the field than what they had last year as freshmen."
This year's team features 32 players with 23 new faces on the team including 21 incoming freshmen and two transfer players (one sophomore and one redshirt freshman) and nine returning players for the Wolves including seven sophomores and two redshirt freshmen. Returning players for the Wolves include Tucker Jones (Brandon), Judson Griffin (Brookhaven), Reise Thomas (Florence), Dylan Wesson (Brandon), Brayden Cooley (Flora), Sam Cook (Shubuta), Dee Morgan (Tallulah, LA), Lucas Harrington (Youngsville, LA) and Caleb Flynn (Laurel). The new faces to the Wolves include Evan Holifield (Stringer) who is a transfer redshirt-freshman from Pearl River and Gavin Bledsoe (Brandon) who is a transfer sophomore from Southwest Mississippi. The 21 incoming freshmen include Cameron Patterson (Central, LA), Jennings Kimbrell (Flowood), Trey Davidson (Brandon), Owen Spooner (Stone), Carter Leggett (Laurel), Parker Ishee (Ridgeland), Donovan Moore (Bude), Wes White (Flowood), Bradley Hanlon (Monroe, LA), Cohen Weinhofer (Ocean Springs), Jaxon Rayborn (Laurel), Tanner Blackwell (Flora), Avery Griffin (Brookhaven), Kane Welborn (Stringer), Jacob Buffalo (Foxworth), Aiden Philyaw (Enterprise), Caleb Brooks (Brandon), Brady White (Ethel), Lane Robertson (Columbia), Nash Sturdivant (Brandon), and Darrin Robbins (Sumrall). Coach Chamblee said he is expecting big contributions from players in both groups this season.
"I think our sophomore group brings valuable experience to our team because they know how hard they had to work for our success last season and got that taste of the playoffs," stated Chamblee. "Those guys provide a lot of leadership for our team and have helped us teach the freshmen the standard that we expect from them and how that will help us have greater success in the postseason."
"A lot of our sophomores have also come back better than they were last season," added Chamblee "We've seen a lot of our pitchers make velocity gains coming into this season. Lucas Harrington is throwing harder, and he has made some big changes since last season. Judson Griffin is throwing harder and with better command while Dee Morgan has also come in throwing harder this season while those guys have also matured more since last season. Tucker Jones has come in and looked just as fast as he did last year and that is exciting to see considering that he has gotten bigger and more physical. I think Caleb Flynn will be just as reliable for us this season as he was last season, and he is going to pound the strike zone from the left side of the mound. We are also expecting Sam Cook to be our top catcher this season after having a strong freshman season. Reise Thomas also made the most of the opportunities he was given last season and I think he will come up big again for us this season when he is called upon."
"One thing as a coach that you want to see is your sophomore players come in bigger and faster than they were as freshmen and nearly all of our guys have done that," said Chamblee. "Brayden Cooley and Dylan Wesson both dealt with injuries last season, but we know what they are capable of, and we are excited to see both get on the field this year. Although this sophomore group is small, they are a bunch of great guys who have led our team well."
"If you look around the field we are going to have a lot of new faces out there each game," added Chamblee. "We are going to have a couple of freshmen fighting for time behind the plate in Brady White and Kane Welborn. Gavin Bledsoe, who is a tremendous athlete and came to us as a shortstop, has been practicing at first base and looks really good. Evan Holifield has been tremendous at second base, and we are excited about seeing what he can do and even more excited that he has two years with us here while Avery Griffin has us excited about what he's doing at the shortstop position as well as offensively. Trey Davidson, one of several guys from Northwest Rankin, will see a lot of time at third base and I think he has a chance to be one of the best defending third basemen in the state and he swings it well. In the outfield, Donovan Moore and Caleb Brooks both had great fall seasons for us while Cohen Weinhofer will see time in the field and on the mound."
"Jacob Buffalo and Lane Robertson are two left-handed freshmen arms that we are excited to see on the field this season," said Chamblee. "Parker Ishee, Jaxon Rayborn, and Wes White are all three guys that are fighting to be in the starting rotation. Tanner Blackwell has been good out of the pen for us while Cameron Patterson will see time both in the field and on the mound. Carter Leggett is another arm that has been really good and throws a ton of strikes. One thing that I really like out of our pitchers this season is that we have seen consistent velocity out of arms especially from the right side."
The schedule for the Wolves features five teams ranked in the NJCAA preseason polls including No. 25 Delgado (Division I), No. 2 East Central, No. 5 Pearl River, No. 12 Jones, and No. 20 Meridian. Chamblee said he's excited about the challenge that will be presented to his team.
"Our conference schedule is just as tough this season as it always is while the non-conference features a lot of quality teams including Southwest Tennessee, St. Charles, Rend Lake, Delgado, and Lansing which are all historically good teams while Nunez is a team that is on the rise and steadily getting better each year," stated Chamblee.
"One of our goals this season is to finish as one of the top six teams in the conference and we have the talent to accomplish that as long as we go out and execute each time we are on the field," added Chamblee. "Getting in one of those spots helps us to qualify for the Region 23 Tournament which is the next big step for our program."
Chamblee said success for this team will be defined simply for his team this season.
"Winning a championship is ultimately the goal, but I think showing progress as a team and having a better record will be a successful year," stated Chamblee. "We want to go out there and show people that last season wasn't just a one-time thing and that we are progressing in the right direction as a program. So, more wins, a higher finish, and winning in the playoffs will all be markers of success for us."
The Wolves start the season hosting a three-game series against Southwest Tennessee with one game on Friday, January 31, and a doubleheader on Saturday, February 1.