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Copperheads in the team's inaugural season is Scott Googins. Googins is currently an assistant coach at Miami(Ohio) University. Googins played collegiate ball at Ohio Wesleyan University, then spent eight years as an assi . stant at Indiana University before joining the Redhawk 
staff The Copperheads position is his first time as a head coach. Recently, Coach Googins sat down with me and answered some questions about the upcoming season.

Q: How did you get involved in Southern Ohio Baseball? 
SG: I was working a summer camp with Joe Carbone (Ohio University's head coach). The camp was for recruits, sort of a who's who of Ohio high school players. He started telling me about the league and the team that was coming to Southern Ohio. He asked if I would be interested in coaching the team. As an assistant coach, I knew it would be great experience. But at Miami, I do a lot of recruiting in the summer, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to take the time but Coach (Tracy Smith, Miami University's head coach) gave me the opportunity to work this summer, so here I am.

Q: How did you put the roster together?
S G . The guys come together from all over. I got recommendations from coaches I know and trust, some guys you see and remember from last year. Sometimes you just see a guy and think 1 think I'd like to have him on my team." Throughout the season, guys get recommended and I check stats on the Internet, talk to other coaches who played him and I even have a few pro scouts that I can bounce questions off of.

Q: Have you met all the players in person yet?
SG: It was fun this spring to be able to go up against some of the guys during our (Miami) season. I would get a chance to talk with them good, but that guy'll be playing for me this summer. I've met about 95% of the guys and the biggest thing that I've noticed is that they are all really good, mature guys.

Q: What sort of team will you be putting on the field? 
SG . Without even practicing yet, its hard to say for sure but I know that we're going to be a good defensive team, solid all the way around the diamond. We have guys with good power, but that is with aluminum bats. Playing with wood bats changes things. First couple of games could be an adjusting period for the guys, but experience says they'll be hitting before too long. Team speed is one thing that scares me a little bit. I don't think we're going to be stealing a lot of bases, we'll have to manufacture some runs until those bats start to warm up.

Q: How does the pitching staff look?
SG We have a good mix of lefties and righties. We should be a power pitching team because we've got guys throwing in the upper 80s, lower 90s. A few of them were drafted out of high school to pitch and the others could be drafted in next few years. I hope to have these power guys be able to spot their pitches and work hard on the mound.

Q: What are your goals for this inaugural season?
SG: First and foremost, we want to win. I'd like to win the league. Is that reasonable for a first year team? We'll see. These summer leagues are for the players to come and get a chance to play some better competition and develop their skills so they are better ball players when they are back at school for spring ball. At the same time, we're coming down to win, in addition to development.
I want the players to have a good experience, meet some new guys and put a good product on the field. My guys are going to hustle, they're going to respect the game and look professional doing it. I want people to say, "That's the Copperheads. They play the game right."