Two new coaches at Reed and Spanish Springs took over programs last week.
Amy Morris is the new volleyball coach at Reed and Matt Ortiz took over the baseball team at Spanish Springs.
On paper, both appear to be solid hires by Athletic Directors Ryan Simms (Reed) and Art Anderson (Spanish Springs).
Morris has an abundance of coaching experience at the collegiate level and has spent the last three years working at Northern Nevada Junior Volleyball Club in Sparks. As the recruiting coordinator (whose responsibilities were numerous), Morris worked with the majority of the players already in the Raiders’ program.
She is the third Reed volleyball coach in as many years (Kris Flagtvedt and James Crane), but with a sense of familiarity between players and coach already in place, the transition shouldn’t be as bumpy.
Oritz was an assistant for Ben Hofmann at Spanish Springs the last handful of seasons before taking the head job on Thursday.
So like Morris, he is already familiar with the players and how the program was run under previous leadership.
He acquired numerous accolades as a player that should get player’s attention. His name is all over the Nevada record books from his Wolf Pack days (1998-2000) and spent two summers in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
There will likely be at least one more local coaching move made in the coming days.
Sims is expected to hire a new boys soccer coach after he and former coach Joel Martinez decided to part ways a couple weeks ago. The baseball position remains vacant as well, but Sims said he does not plan to start interviewing for the position until the school year starts in August.
Lincecum to start against Aces tomorrow
Former San Francisco great Tim Lincecum, 31, is slated to start for the Salt Lake Bees Tuesday morning at Greater Nevada Field against the Aces.
Tomorrow’s probables confirmed: Tim Lincecum (0-1, 5.40) vs. former @NevadaBaseball and current #Aces star Braden Shipley (3-3, 3.25). ?
— Reno Aces (@Aces) June 6, 2016
The Freak, a two-time Cy Young winner, made his debut with the Bees on Friday at Tacoma and showed signs of rust early. He hadn’t pitched in a game since June 27, 2015.
The first three batters he faced all reached then he balked in a run. He eventually retired nine straight batters and left with a final line of: 5 IP, 3 runs, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts and 3 walks. The Bees fell 3-2.
His fastball reportedly rested between 89-91 miles an hour.
Lincecum signed a free agent deal with the Angels nearly two and a half weeks ago after a hip surgery ended his 2015 season, and likely career, with the Giants.
The final game of an eight-game home stand, first pitch Tuesday morning is at 11:35 a.m.
Radtke shares thoughts on Nevada hoops
A lot has been made of the noise Nevada basketball is making in the offseason.
Cam Oliver is coming back. Dave Rice joined the staff. Four new, talented transfers signed two weeks ago.
I had play-by-play man for the Aces, Nevada football and basketball, Ryan Radtke, on my radio show Thursday. I asked him which of the transfers who will be eligible this winter that fans should be most excited about.
Radtke, who watched countless practices last year, wasted no time getting to Marcus Marshall, a 6-3 senior guard from Missouri State.
Marshall will likely be asked to take over the role Marqueze Coleman played the last couple seasons. Radtke called him a future pro, whether in the NBA or overseas.
He averaged 19.5 points per game in 14 games as a junior at Missouri State and shot 45.9 percent from the field, 45.6 percent from deep – a welcome addition to a team that’s struggled from three the last few seasons.
Nathan can also be reached via email at nshoup@dailysparkstribune. His weekly column, ‘Shoup Shots,’ runs in the hard copy of the Sparks Tribune every Tuesday morning.
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