One of the first changes new Warren Central baseball coach Josh Abraham made before preseason drills began for the 2009 season, was to move his office into the team locker room. For the past several seasons, all of the Viking coaches shared an office on the second floor of the press box overlooking Viking Field.

To download a Warren Central baseball schedule, click here

Abraham said the move was made so he could have more interaction with his team.

“I want to see them when they come in and I hope they wave to me when they leave,” the former Tupelo High assistant coach said.

Hopefully for the Vikings, Abraham’s approach will turn around the Vikings fortunes after two dismal seasons for the once-proud program.

Warren Central won the Class 5A championship in 2001 and was a playoff regular until 2007, when it finished 6-22. The Vikings improved some last year, going 9-19 and making the playoffs, but former coach Randy Broome felt a need to turn the program over to a replacement and move into administration.

Abraham is quick to point out that Broome left the WC program poised for a rebound.

“Randy had these guys prepared well. That was something that was really good for me to see, that the kids were well-prepared to work. The biggest thing for me was to keep them in a positive frame of mind and put them into the right situation for them to succeed,” Abraham said.

One way to do that was to play more intrasquad games.

“We did a lot more scrimmage work. It was a way to get them ready for game season. The biggest thing is they’re playing hard. They do their work each day and I think they are looking forward to the upcoming season as I much as I am,” Abraham said.

Warren Central will be a young team in 2009 with just three seniors who are regular starters — third baseman Adam Lee and pitchers Keaton Sanders and Jason Pettway.

“Even though we are young, I feel we have a good balance. We’ve got a good corps of sophomores,” Abraham said.

Pettway was the team’s top pitcher last season, going 4-7 with 41 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings pitched. Sanders threw 24 1/3 innings.

“The thing we want is for our pitchers to command the strike zone and get us ground balls. We want to rely on our defense. Pettway is throwing pretty well. We feel we have four or five more guys that can help us both starting and in relief roles,” Abraham said.

The rest of the Viking staff will include Lee, Dylan Wooten, Colby Key, John Michael Harris and Darrick White.

With an emphasis on defense, Abraham said it will be a priority to make the routine play.

Lee will anchor the defense at third base with Beau Wallace and Sanders sharing time at short. Catcher was a problem at times last year, but sophomores Josh Stuckey and Carlos Gonzales have stepped up. Jerrod Ettinger will get some looks there as well.

Sanders is also working at second base along with Jimmie Elliott and Buddy Cook. Elliott is the team’s top returning hitter with a .385 average.

Wooten, Pettway and Harris will share the role at first base.

In the outfield, the Vikings will rotate between White, De Kelley, Key, Clayton Ashley, Carter Kittrell, Blake Jobe and Paul Mitchell.

The Vikings open their season Saturday at home against Class 5A semifinalist Terry at Viking Field.

*

Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.