Amick leads his alma mater to its first state title in a team sport

SPRINGFIELD -- The impatient man coached a near-perfect season.

Lance Amick, second-year coach of the Scott City baseball team, admits he might be better suited to succeed as a coach in sports other than baseball. But after delivering the school's first championship in a team sport with a 23-1 season, he will be forever known in Scott City as a baseball man.

"I do this for the pure and simple fact I love these kids and I love this school," Amick said Thursday as he rested against a wall at Meador Park and watched his players receive congratulations from hundreds of fans who had made the trek. "I love this school. It's near and dear to me because it's where I went. To see all these faces out there that never finished their dream, this is for all of them, too."

Scott City had made five previous trips to the final four, but none since 1990. The two seniors on this year's team had been part of district championships in 2005 and 2007, only to lose in the sectional games.

Amick's basketball program has had four winning seasons in his five campaigns, but no district titles.

"It seems like we got a monkey off our backs," Amick said. "You see a lot of old faces and old friends here, a lot of guys who were part of the older teams that got up here. We did this all for them.

"We kept them in our vision and our dreams all the way through."

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Scott City coach Lance Amick celebrated as his team won the Class 2 state championship Thursday in Springfield.

Amick was one of those who had played on teams bidding to earn Scott City a championship in something -- four sports actually.

By the time his high school career closed in 1999, he was an all-state performer in track as a triple jumper and relay runner in addition to playing on district-winning basketball and football teams.

And he played baseball.

"Whatever was in season was my favorite," Amick said.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Scott City coach Lance Amick watched his team play during the state tournament in Springfield.

Amick's family was noted for baseball. His father, Mark, had been an All-American outfielder at Southeast Missouri State in the mid-1970s. His grandfather, Ollie, had been the leading figure in youth baseball in Scott City for many years. The youth baseball field there is named after him, and he was inducted into the SEMO Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.

"It's been in my family," Amick said.

But Lance Amick, who walked on to the football team at Southeast Missouri State his freshman year, said it's not necessarily his sport.

"I tell this to people all the time: I'm not a baseball guy," he said. "I know how to work kids and I know how to work them hard, and I know enough about the game.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Lance Amick, who led the Rams to the Class 2 baseball championship last week, is a 1999 graduate of Scott City High School.

"When you've got a great group of kids who work as hard as they do, and they're blessed with some talent, it's just a great feeling right now."

Amick has assumed the look of a baseball guy, growing his beard in for winning streaks.

"You could do that as a basketball coach," Amick said, "but you'd be in the minority."

That and Amick's smelly uniform were part of another trait associated with baseball.

"I'm one of the most superstitious guys you'll ever meet," he said.

Amick does have a baseball philosophy, though perhaps it is more suited for basketball: pressure. Scott City stole seven bases in the two tournament games and laid down several bunts.

"I'm impatient by nature," Amick said. "I have to try to make things happen. We have a lot of kids who can do a lot of things with the bat. We've got a good amount of speed in our lineup and I like to make things happen, put kids in position to be successful and put the other team in position where they have to make plays.

"I feel like, more times than not, we're going to end up on the better end of the deal."

In some ways, he is a player's coach.

"He listens to us," senior catcher Cody Carlyle said. "And then whenever he thinks we need to listen to him, he sets us straight. He's pretty easy to work with. Sometimes he's really cool, and sometimes he's intense and you can't joke around."

Said Amick: "We're a dictatorship in the fact I do a lot of the decision-making, but these kids give a lot of input. I'm a big believer in my kids. I put a lot of trust in what they think."

And he has their trust, which probably wasn't an easy task for a non-baseball guy.

"Everybody in this lineup plays their part and a lot of guys bought into their roles," Amick said. "They trust me, that I'll put them in a position to win."

With two district titles and now a state crown in two seasons, it's a relationship that's worked well.

Especially considering the circumstances that resulted in Amick taking the job two years ago, when the school needed a successor for Mike Umfleet.

"There wasn't a whole lot of demand for the job," he said. "I knew I could do a good job, but I knew if somebody else had applied who was a real good baseball guy, I was going to bow out. I just felt like I needed to help out."

Amick made the sacrifice despite enduring a basketball season in 2005-06 where he sat out a short period of time for health reasons. Taking on the extra assignment that spring probably raised some eyebrows.

But Amick also said it seemed an appropriate way to honor his grandfather, who died in April of 2006 at the age of 86.

"I felt like it was the decision I needed to make at the time," Amick said. "I'm glad I did it."