If you walk into Coach Ryan Ihle's office this summer, chances are you will find him on the phone, or on the computer watching video, or talking to a prospect. By whatever method, Ihle is probably recruiting—and with good reason. As Ihle put it, he's losing a tremendous amount from this past year's group. But he is meeting it with optimism.

"It's just reload time," Ihle said.  "It's not something where we anticipate having a down year since we've had a couple of good years. We're trying to reload, regroup, and regather so we can continue to win baseball games in this conference and remain relevant."

The 2025 team will look quite different from what it did this past season. That's because the Govs must replace practically every position player.

"We've got JT Thigpen and Blake Wynn coming back. Those are two guys that had a decent amount of at-bats for us. They've got to step up in their new roles and lead this young group coming in next year."

Thigpen is an outfielder from Jackson, Mississippi. He had 64 at-bats last season. Wynn, an infielder from Dothan, only had 32 at-bats. By comparison, all full-time Wallace starters had well over 100 at-bats.

"We're returning a decent group off our pitching staff," Ihle said. "Jake Middleton, John LoCurto, and Walker Altman were big pieces for us this year and will continue to be pieces for us next year hopefully."

So how is the recruiting and replacement process going?

"Outside of some transfers we're hoping to land, we've got a real talented group of freshmen coming in," Ihle said. "And while not being specific," he added, "We've got a lot of guys coming in from the Atlanta area from some pretty strong high school programs. We've also got guys coming in from further away, from Ohio, and a corner infielder from Mississippi that I am excited about."

And just like this past season, Ihle is also counting on some local talent.

"Cam Dyer from Houston Academy is a talented two-way player that I am excited to get in our program. Will Rice is a tall, lanky left lefthanded pitcher from Pike Liberal that has a high ceiling. And Evan Taylor from Headland is a middle infielder that can really take off in the right environment."

"We're still adding people, waiting on some offers we have out. There's going to be a lot of new faces out there this fall. I'm excited about that. At the junior college level, there is always a lot of turn over. It's just part of the business and part of the profession at this level."

While Ihle can find players, what he's really got to find is leaders. He had lots of leaders last season.

"I didn't just specify to JT and Blake about leadership. I also mentioned it to all of our returning pitchers. We had a lot of leadership this past season, but those guys weren't leaders as freshmen. They were guys that took over from guys like Kade Snell and Carlos Vasquez. It's going to be a point of emphasis for me in the fall. You guys that were freshmen last year - you're now sophomores. It's time to grow up."

There's a big reason Ihle will need leaders to step up.

"The jump from high school to college baseball--whether that be Division I, Division II, Division III, or NAIA--it doesn't matter. That jump from high school to this level is the biggest jump you'll ever make in your baseball career. Whether you're a 20-year big leaguer, or played two years of junior college baseball, it doesn't matter; that is the biggest jump you'll ever make."

"Every single freshman that I had sitting on that couch (during exit meetings), I asked them what they thought. They said it's a lot different from high school baseball. It's something that is a year long experience. It's eight or nine months of waking up, going to class, going to practice, go to bed, rinse and repeat. They don't quite understand it until they go through it."

"That's the exciting part, to see who straps it on and says ok, this is how it's going to be. Or the guys who say, this is way harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I just need to be a student. Or go to a university and go join a frat because this ain't for me. And that's okay. It requires a special person to go through junior college baseball. And go through the day-in and day-out of being a student-athlete. Those that do successfully go through the grind move on to the next level and have a chance to have a long successful career."