Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Southside High School named John Lohman as the new head baseball coach. The position was held by Stanley Dixon who worked as an interim coach. Lohman is looking forward to the opportunity to coach next spring.

“I’m excited about it,” Lohman said. “I love sports and I love coaching. I certainly have a lot to learn but I’m excited for the opportunity. It is very humbling for me.”

Lohman has been a soccer and softball coach, but this is his first-time coaching baseball. He said there are some key differences between coaching softball and baseball.

“Coaching baseball is very different than softball,” Lohman said. The speed of the game is faster, and the fields are bigger. The biggest difference will be pitching.

In softball, we would typically ride our best pitcher for as long as we could. In baseball, there is more relief pitching so I will have to adjust to that.”

Last season, the Seahawks finished 9-12 overall and 3-7 in the conference. They were a young team as only Walker Hill and Carson Edwards graduated. They will still have a lot of impact players such as Luke Perry, Joshua Lewis, Jackson Harding, and Cutter Williams.

They lost 12-11 in the first round of the playoffs to five-seeded Bear Grass. Because of how competitive Southside was in this game, Lohman is hopeful for next season.

“While they did lose to Bear Grass, they fought hard. That tells me that this group has lots of character and I think we can build off that performance when we begin in February next year,” Lohman said.

Lohman said he is a high-energy coach. He likes to win, and he plans to get some wins next season. He hopes his energy and desire to win will rub off on his players.

“I am really looking forward to getting to know the players and building relationships with them. I have been out of the country for seven years, so it feels good to be back and coaching baseball,” Lohman said.