MAN – Larry Vance is back to lead the Man High School baseball team.

Vance was last head coach of the Hillbillies during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the last of which he led Man to the Class A state tournament, led by Justin Fekete, Timmy Doty and Corey Greene.

Vance replaced departed head coach Chris Harvey, who left Man to take a job with the Florida State University football staff.

The new Man coach is very optimistic about this year’s team as six starters return for the 2009 season, which opens this Saturday afternoon at Belfry, Ky.

Man, however, lost two very good team leaders due to graduation in all-state pitcher Trevor Corns, who is now pitching at the next level at Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky and Jim Joe Gibson, who is playing collegiate baseball at Bluefield State.

Plenty of other key players return, however, for Man, including: senior pitcher and senior third baseman Cody Harvey; first baseman David Johnson; junior catcher Duke Vance; junior shortstop and pitcher Travis Hurley; junior second baseman Steven Craddock; and junior centerfielder Evan Riggins.

“Im glad to be back into coaching,” Coach Vance said. “I really enjoy it. We should be very competitive as the season goes along. We still are a long way to where we need to be but we have been focusing on the mental side of the game and the fundamentals of small ball.”

Vance said Man will have lots of speed in the lineup.

“I think our strength is our defense and speed in Ryan Crum and Evan Riggins while our weakness is our pitchers,” he said. “We lost Trevor and that hurts along with Jim Joe. But the kids have been working hard and it takes game experience to get better. We have a couple of freshmen pitchers that could step in and give us some quality innings in Jordan Simpson and Jacob Riggins. Cody Harvey is a big strong pitcher and I hope to get a lot of innings in for Vance. Steven Craddock is a finesse type hurler.”

Spence was one of the top hurlers in this group growing up in Little League and Junior League and will be counted on by Vance. Duke Vance could very well be the ace but must work on his control.

The Billies have a good crop of freshmen this year. Other freshmen coming up to the varsity this season are Nick Carter, Andrew Merritt, Shane Browning, J.T. Twardy, Thomas Blair and Aaron Willard who led Man Middle School to the Black Diamond Conference championship last season.

Duke Vance, Hurley, Riggins and Johnson each hit better than .300 last season for the Billies and should give Man some pop in the batting order.

Harvey, Riggins and Vance hit five home runs or more last season.

Two players who did not play last year but will also be in the hunt for playing time are senior Cory Spence, who last played his freshman year and returns for his senior year; and Tyler Grimmett, who sat out his sophomore year and will play as a junior. Grimmett has some power at the plate while Spence has natural athletic ability. Spence quarterbacked the Man football team the last few years and led the basketball team this season as he reached the 1,000-point career plateau.

Another new addition to the team is Derrick Earnest who moved in from North Carolina and was the field goal kicker and played defensive end last fall for the Man High School football team. Earnest will play in the outfield for Vance.

Also looking for playing time are Ben Gibson, Wade Smith and James Robertson.

Man has a very tough schedule this season with three Class AAA teams on the slate — Logan, Nitro and Capital. Logan won the Class AA state championship last season and has moved back up to the Triple-A level this spring for the first time since 2002. Nitro is the defending Class AAA state champions.

The Billies will also be challenged with some difficult Class AA teams on the schedule as Man is slated to face county foe Chapmanville, Wyoming East, Westside, Scott, Belfry (Ky.), Tyler Consolidated and Sherman.

Man also takes on Class A teams Matewan, Buffalo, Van, Wahama, Williamstown, Charleston Catholic and St. Marys in addition to Mountain State Academy.

Coach Vance will be assisted this season by Travis Hurley Sr., the dad of the Man player and also Nick Booth, who is in his first year on the staff. This is Hurley’s third year with the Man baseball team.