Johnson, Rahm named preseason all-conference
2/10/2016 12:33:00 PM | Baseball
With an abundance of new faces – 19 to be exact – there is a chance the Sam Houston State baseball program has a few players sneak up on its Southland Conference foes. Spence Rahm and Bryce Johnson will not be among them.
Rahm, a senior first baseman from Tomball, and Johnson, a sophomore outfielder from Cypress, have been named preseason second-team All-Southland Conference, the league office announced Wednesday.
As a freshman, Johnson wreaked havoc on conference foes, ranking fifth in on base percentage (.453), seventh in batting average (.356) and 12th in runs (13). Overall, the league honorable mention led the squad in stolen bases (16) and finished second in runs (33).
“He's just a steady presence,” second-year head coach Matt Deggs said. “He handles his business every day. As long as I've known him – for two years now – he's the same guy every day. You never see another side of Bryce. What you see is what you get every day. He shows up to work, he's very steady and very consistent.”
The Cy-Ranch High School product ended his season on a 13-game hitting streak and 14-game reached base streak while shining in the conference tournament, combining to go 5-for-16 (.312), scoring three runs during four games.
“Coach Deggs and I got in the cages and worked on my swing a lot,” Johnson said of midseason adjustments. “He made a little tweak in it, and I just went with it. I'm switch hitting now, so my left-handed side at the plate is what I've been really working on. I haven't really been working mainly on right side, but on the left side, I've made improvements like crazy.”
Rahm is coming off his strongest season, hitting .295 while starting all 59 games. The Tomball High School product led Sam Houston with 34 runs, 69 hits, 13 doubles, six home runs, 37 RBIs, 100 total bases and 21 walks.
“He had potential that needed to be tapped into,” Deggs said. “He never really had his chance before and last year was his big coming out party. There's still a lot in him. I'm expecting really big things from Spence. He's had a really good fall and really good spring training.”
The first baseman, who Deggs said could also see time on the mound, hit .310 against Southland foes, ranking 17th with 49 total bases in league play, but credits the conference for offering a grind each weekend, something that may go under the radar nationally.
“Every single team you play is running out three guys on the weekend that are really good pitchers,” Rahm said. “Everybody is scrappy, aggressive teams and anybody can beat you any given night.”
With first pitch one week from Friday when the Bearkats visit Louisiana-Lafayette, Sam Houston has concluded eight scrimmages, with Deggs pleased with the effort he saw on the mound in the squad's most recent outing.
“It was really good to see some of the arms that threw tonight,” Deggs said. “It was good to see Riley Gossett close the game out like he did. He had a great attack, he got ahead of hitters and was able to put them away with a good breaking ball. Dane Lovejoy did a good job tonight coming out of the bullpen, attacking hitters, getting ahead and able to finish with a slider. (Dakota) Mills and Miles Manning were able to set a really good tone for the intrasquad.”
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