Flessner Era Set to Start for Wolves
The 2024-25 season for the Co-Lin Baseball team finished as one of the best in program history as the Wolves finished 34-25 overall and made it to the championship game of their pod in the Region 23 Tournament and ended with a 13-9 loss in that game to the East Central Warriors. The summer then brought changes to the program as Kyle Flessner was promoted to head coach after serving as assistant coach for the 2024-25 season. Flessner says he is excited about his first season as the head coach for the Wolves and that expectations are high for the team coming off the success of last year.
"I have the best group of guys to start this job with especially with a lot of them being returners which has helped make the learning curve a lot easier for me," stated Flessner. "I have been excited for the season and ready to get things started."
"Our guys have to keep the same chip on their shoulder that they had last season," added Flessner. "Last year we had a lot of young guys that wanted to go out and prove to people that they belonged, and they have to go out with the understanding that no one is going to hand us wins because of what we did last year. As far as possibilities with this team, I think it is very possible for us to go further than we did last season if we bring the same attitude and energy for every game."
The roster features 32 players for the Wolves with 18 players that have experience under their belt from last season (17 sophomores including 14 returners and one transfer along with three redshirt freshmen) along with 15 incoming freshmen. The 14 returners include Trey Davidson, Caleb Brooks, and Nash Sturdivant all of Brandon via Northwest Rankin while the one transfer sophomore is a former teammate of that trio, Bryson Jones, who played last season at Jones. Other returners include Avery Griffin (Brookhaven), Evan Holifield (Stringer), Bradley Hanlon (Monroe, LA), Brady White (Ethel), Cameron Patterson (Central, LA), Caleb Flynn (Laurel), Jennings Kimbrell (Flowood), Donovan Moore (Roxie), Cohen Weinhofer (Ocean Springs), Tanner Blackwell (Flora), and Jacob Buffalo (Foxworth) while the three redshirt freshmen are Brayden Cooley (Flora), Parker Ishee (Ridgeland), and Wes White (Flowood).
"Having this many sophomores with as much experience that they possess is a great problem for us to have this season," said Flessner. "This group has that swagger that comes with being a veteran group and you can really see it coming through in games with their confidence level being higher than what it was. That is a by-product from us having to play them so much last season and we really threw them to the wolves and they have come out leading this pack this season. I am excited for this group, and they have an attitude that says we're ready to go further and get back at it."
Flessner said several of this group have also made improvements over the fall heading into this season.
"Bradley Hanlon saw limited time for us last season, but he went and played in a summer league which led to him coming back as a different player for us which led to a great fall and to a signing with ULM. He has been a good leader for our team this year," stated Flessner. "Bryson Jones has been a spark plug for us and as far as teammates they don't come any better than him. We have been able to put him anywhere we need him and he has done a great job."
"I think the job that Trey Davidson does at third base is overlooked at times because he is so solid. He makes every routine play look easy, but he also makes the hard plays look easy too and I'm glad that we have him at the hot corner and hitting in the three hole for us," added Flessner. "Avery Griffin has put a lot of emphasis on improving with his bat especially this fall and he's one of the best defensive shortstops in the league in my opinion."
The 14 freshmen for the Wolves include Hayes Hebert (Lafayette, LA), Jacob Chancelor (Brandon), John Mark Grissom (Pearl), Kade Walker (Magee), Bryson Bey (Ellisville), Lucian Walker (Starkville), Bryan Travis (Gulfport), MT Breland (Columbia), Matthew Combs (Hurley) Cam Murphy (Brandon), Akavion Griffith (Magee), Ty Blakeney (Taylorsville), Drake Frasier (Waynesboro), and Kagen Semmes (Crowley, LA).
Flessner says he expects this group to have some big impacts for the team this season.
"One big arm for us that we expect to be huge is Lucian Walker. He has been a surprise for us because he showed up to our tryout and was really impressive and I'm not sure how he fell through the cracks, but I'm glad he's on our team. We think he has the potential to be a problem for other teams in the league," said Flessner. "In the infield, I think John Mark Grissom is as talented as anyone in every phase of the game. Both of those guys have been incredible teammates which is impressive for guys just starting their college careers."
One group that will standout for the Wolves this season is the pitching staff which features four arms that account for 23 of the 34 wins last season in Jennings Kimbrell, who tied for the MACCC regular season lead in wins, Cohen Weinhofer, Cameron Patterson, and Tanner Blackwell along with Parker Ishee and Wes White who had five combined wins before missing all of MACCC play last season due to injury and Nash Sturdivant who had nine saves (tied for the MACCC lead).
Flessner says having all those arms back along with the addition of new ones is another great thing for this team.
"When I was the pitching coach at East Central we had some really great staffs there and I think my experiences with that will be beneficial to us in this situation," said Flessner. "I think having this many guys is a great problem to have because it allows us to keep our guys fresher throughout the season including postseason play. It will be nice to have guys not have 80+ innings under their belt to get where we want to be and I fully expect that to happen this season."
"One guy that has made some big improvement and we expect to have a bigger impact than last season for us is Tanner Blackwell," added Flessner. "Last season we had to use him in a position that might not have been the best fit for him, but he did great in that spot. He has had a great fall and we are expecting him to keep that momentum throughout this upcoming season. "
One area of the game that the Wolves will have to answer some questions about is in the outfield losing two out of three players from last year's team, but Flessner likes what he has seen out of that group.
"Donovan Moore has been the most effective hitting outfielder we have. He was the MVP of our fall series, and he has bullied our pitching staff this past fall and leading up to the season," said Flessner. "Caleb Brooks is a player that you can tell just has a year of experience under his belt after what was an already successful freshman season while Bryson Jones is someone that I think will thrive in the outfield for us. Some of our freshmen like Matthew Combs, Bryson Bey, Drake Frasier, and Cam Murphy are all guys that could probably find themselves into a starting spot at any time we need them."
Flessner says success for this team looks simple.
"The ultimate goal is to get to Enid and the national tournament," stated Flessner. "I've told our guys that there's one trophy at the end of the year that everybody wants to be playing for and if you're not trying for that then you're never going to get there. I told our guys to focus on being able to control what we can…if I can look at our guys at the end of the season and tell them we did everything we could and there's not anything we could've done differently then that will be successful to me. The result will take care of itself if we handle all those little things."
The Wolves open the season hosting Nunez Community College on Monday, February 2, at Sullivan Field.