By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Ju’Juan Lacewell-Cason says he has found an ideal fit for his first head coaching assignment. It comes directing the Williams baseball team.
“They’re so young, there’s an excitement there,” Lacewell-Cason said. “You know there’s potential there.”
Lacewell-Cason was hired just a couple of weeks before the start of the season, not allowing for much nurturing. Brent Haynes resigned in the fall after one season with the Bulldogs.
Lacewell-Cason, 26, is a former Division II college center fielder with Belmont Abbey and Shippensburg (in Pennsylvania). He’s from Leland, playing in high school for North Brunswick.
So far, it has gone well with the Bulldogs, he said.
“They accepted me and took me in as one of their own,” he said. “I’m a new coach. There’s a lot of scrambling going on. I think they handled it all so well. They play really hard for me.”
Lacewell-Cason played parts of four seasons for Belmont Abbey, using only two seasons of eligibility because of the pandemic. The center fielder spent his last two seasons at Shippensburg, finishing in 2022.
“The north made me tough,” he said.
He was lined up to be an assistant coach at Caldwell Academy in Greensboro. But his connections and role with Dirtbags Baseball, a travel program based in Burlington, led him to the Williams opening.
It’d be good if the Bulldogs don’t play long extra-inning games. Lacewell-Cason works overnight shifts for FedEx.
Jeff Coker, the father of third baseman/pitcher Vince Coker, is the assistant coach.
The Bulldogs opened the season with three straight road games victories last week, defeating Northeast Guilford 9-6, Caldwell Academy 12-6 and Eastern Guilford 14-3. The home opener will come Friday night against Clover Garden.
Aiden Pulliam knocked in three runs and Coker scored four runs in the Northeast Guilford game, while Hunter Daniels and Logan Thompson handled the pitching.
Against Caldwell Academy, Will Allen and Hunter Daniels drove in two runs and Coker scored three runs. Coker struck out 10 batters in five innings.
