Vilonia’s baseball Eagles did a lot of learning in 2017, but coach Brad Wallace may have turned out to be their best student.
A ho-hum season turned into a state-championship run after Wallace listened to his seniors and tweaked his coaching philosophy.
From 17-11, the Eagles won their final eight games, including the 5A-West District Tournament and the Class 5A State Tournament, capped by a 9-2 win over favored Magnolia at the University of Arkansas’ Baum Stadium.
“We were sitting there worried about what seed we were going to be in the conference tournament,” said Wallace, whose team finished 25-11. “We lost some crucial games in April that I had no idea why we lost. I was just losing kids.
“But we had six walk-off victories throughout the season. [Assistant] coach [Justin] Moore and I would make comments about how there was something special about this team, but we never thought this was going to be the year.”
Wallace, 36, is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Coach of the Year.
“He loves the game,” senior right fielder Luke Gordon said. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who loves the game more.”
Wallace’s modus operandi is all baseball, all the time.
“We had prayer breakfasts before conference games,” he said of his usual routine. “We’d wear ties for game days. We’d have morning workouts two days a week and morning hitting the other two days. They’d come in at 6 a.m. and go until 7, and in the afternoons, we’d start practice at 2:15 and get out about 5.
“And when our young kids play at home, our older guys are there to work the field and have foul-ball duty. They were basically at the field all the time.”
But by an April 4 conference doubleheader loss to Batesville, the Eagles were exhausted — and it showed.
“I was probably working them in a negative effect, what we were doing practicewise, and wearing them out,” Wallace said. “So we made some changes to what they did daily, and they believed in me.”
Both Wallace and Gordon agreed that the eight-member senior class made the big difference.
“We didn’t respond well to that [practice schedule],” Gordon said. “We struggled the first half of the year, horribly, to the point we were even wondering if we’d make it to the playoffs. He definitely adjusted to us.”
Wallace took his list of Eagle baseball requirements to his seniors for an evaluation — beneficial or not?
“We had several X’s and several check marks, so then we went back and redesigned what we did,” he said. “We marked off lifting because we’d lifted all the way to spring break. We were tearing our bodies down and never allowing them to recover. We made morning hitting optional instead of required so guys could focus on their routine. We took some of the drills and morphed some things to make them more active — so we could finish practice by 3:45, and they could leave by 4. And we were getting more done.
“With that, they believed I wanted the best for them. That’s what was special — being a part of young men growing up and taking control. But they still had a lot of little boy in them, so we needed to have fun.”
The strategy began to pay dividends, and by the April 25 conference doubleheader with highly touted Faulkner County rival Greenbrier, the Eagles were in synch. They split with the Panthers, winning 6-3 and losing 5-4.
It was their final loss.
“After they beat Greenbrier, I believe those kids thought they could beat anybody,” Wallace said.
In the 5A-West tournament, the Eagles rolled over Alma, 5-1, and Harrison, 16-3, before dumping Greenbrier again in the final, 9-6.
As the league’s top seed for the Class 5A State Tournament, Vilonia beat Nettleton, 9-3, before surviving a pair of eight-inning contests: over White Hall, 10-7, and Little Rock Christian, 7-6, to reach the championship game against Magnolia at Baum Stadium.
“They loved being in the stadium, but they were never in awe,” Wallace said. “They never got caught up in all of that. They truly believed they should be there, believed they should win, believed they were the better team.”
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Wallace grew up in Fordyce, where he was an infielder for the Redbugs before going off to play for Delta State. He spent three years there before transferring to Henderson State. After graduation, he played six weeks of independent baseball.
He hadn’t originally planned to coach.
“I was going to be an engineer,” he said, “but I went to two schools that didn’t offer engineering, so I majored in math. My last year, I had to student-teach, and the football coach at [Hot Springs] Lakeside asked if I was going to coach. I said, ‘I guess so,’ and the next night I was at a football game.
“Now I don’t think I could do anything else. I love
kids, and I love being with kids.”
He went home for his first coaching job. He coached junior high football and was a baseball assistant at Fordyce.
“It’s really hard to go home,” Wallace said. “I was coaching kids I was in youth group with. I got out of there as fast as possible.”
He then spent two years at Joe T. Robinson as head baseball and assistant football coach before coming to Vilonia. He just finished his ninth year with the Eagles. In his third season, he took them to the state tournament, and they returned three more times before missing a year. Their previous best showing was the semifinals in 2014.
They missed state again in 2016 but made up for it this spring.
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Wallace understands how special this baseball season was.
“This senior class wasn’t the most talented,” he said. “They really had to come together for it to be special. Being a part of watching those guys come together — I don’t know if I’ll get that again.
“Watching them breed confidence with each other and for the younger guys — that was pretty special.”
He said the weeks since the title game have been a whirlwind. The seniors graduated before the state final, and many of them have moved on to summer baseball. He lamented that they hadn’t had a chance to relive their accomplishment in the VHS hallways.
The Eagles gathered again recently to choose the design for their championship rings.
“You would’ve thought we’d lost,” Wallace said. “They sat in there very gloomy, almost upset. The ring guy was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I just left the Pottsville softball girls, and they were doing cartwheels.’
“And the guys said they liked the rings, but they’re going to miss each other. That’s what we preached all year. The prize for them wasn’t the ring or really even the championship — it was just to be able to play until the last day together.”
That may have been the ultimate lesson for all of the Eagles.