The Warren Central baseball program is going in a new direction with this month’s hire of former Tupelo High assistant coach Josh Abraham.

The new coach, however, is on his honeymoon while the Vikings head toward the end of their summer season. The key dates for Abraham and his new team will be July 23-24 when the program will conduct tryouts.

Abraham’s hire was made official on Thursday at the monthly meeting of the Vicksburg Warren School Board.

“The tryout is for all classes, ninth through 12th, because it’s going to be Coach Abraham who will pick his team,” said WC assistant coach Tip Nutt, a holdover from former coach Randy Broome’s staff. Nutt has been in charge of the Vikings’ junior team.

“The guys are going to have to be ready for an attitude adjustment. But I’m excited about Coach Abraham. We’ve been energized. Our older guys haven’t lost since he was named,” Nutt said.

The Vikings are coming off back-to-back losing seasons. In 2007, they slumped to a 6-22 mark and missed the Class 5A playoffs for the first time in several years. They went 9-19 in 2008 but did make it back to the playoffs before being bounced in the first round. In 2001, WC won the Class 5A state title with a club that finished 36-3 and was rated one of the best in the nation.

Nutt says the transition to Abraham, who helped Tupelo reach the Class 5A finals this year against Ocean Springs, should be easy.

“I think it’s going to be a smooth transition. Coach Hardy has had the older guys and I’ve had the younger ones. We’ve had a decent summer on both sides. I’ve got 11 kids with the younger group and we’ve played 16 to 17 games and should finish with close to 20. The older guys have already played nearly 20,” Nutt said.

With the loss of four seniors, the Vikings were faced with having to rebuild their middle infield along with their most consistent pitcher and a catcher.

“Heath Carroll and Cody Barfield were our middle infield and Jonathan Longmire became one of our best pitchers. We also lost Harry Ferguson, who caught and was a great team leader,” Nutt said.

Three of the Vikings’ JV group, who Nutt has coached for over a year, have made strides.

“I think three of these guys can come in and play. Carlos Gonzales, Bo Wallace have had real good summers. Clay Ashley was our best pitcher on the JV team. Gonzales can catch and that’s going to help us there. Last year, we had to move Chris Snow from third to catcher. But Gonzales and Josh Stuckey are more true catchers,” Nutt said.

Senior Keaton Sanders will likely grab the spot at short and Jimmie Elliot could wind up at second or stay in the outfield.

Junior Jason Pettway, who went 4-7 last season, is the likely No. 1 starter in the pitching rotation with Dylan Wooten and Jay Harper getting some looks. Gonzales, Ashley and Wallace can also pitch.