NATCHEZ — Matthew Freeman has been named the new head baseball coach at Adams County Christian School.

Freeman served as an assistant coach for the past two-and-a-half years at ACCS.

“It feels really good,” Freeman said. “I was fortunate to not be thrown to the lions in my first two years. Coach (David) King did a good job of getting me those years of assistance under head coaches and I got to learn first hand and see everything that goes on and be a part of the program, on top of having all the knowledge I had from playing college baseball. It feels good to be the guy in charge and knowing that I have all of this experience.”

ACCS headmaster David King said he is excited to see what Freeman will bring to the diamond this upcoming season.

“I coached Matthew when he was younger and he is one of the brightest baseball minds that I’ve been around,” King said.

Freeman will replace Richy Spears, who also serves as the defensive coordinator for the football team and as head basketball coach.

Spears will continue those duties next year.

“Baseball is a very time consuming position and ACCS has a long standing baseball tradition,” King said. “We’ve had guys like Gil Morris, Ron Rushing and Hunter McKeiver in that era and they were great coaches. Coach Spears just had too much on his plate and he did this as a favor to the school so we could get the right guy in there. And I have no doubt we have the right guy. We have a good group of baseball players coming up and I’m excited about Matthew getting this group deep into the playoffs.”

The Rebels failed to make the postseason last year, but Freeman said he hopes to get the team heading in the right direction.

“We’ve got some good pieces coming back, but we’ve just got to drill them,” Freeman said. “We’ve got a really good group of younger guys that need to work on fundamentals and situations. We have some seniors ready to compete and we just want them all to compete to the best of their abilities. We’ll be ready to go.”

One of the first changes Freeman has made is incorporating eight grade players in with the high school.

“Last year we had a seventh and eighth grade team, but they didn’t get many games,” Freeman said. “This year, every eighth grader will be at every varsity practice and play for the JV. They may even play for the high school team if they can win the job.”

Freeman, who has been doing some summer workouts with his team, said about 20 players have been participating and he expects numbers to grow as time passes.

Freeman also said he will have an assistant next season.

“He’ll be a good help and will do as much as he can,” Freeman said. “He played college baseball with me at Co-Lin and is an ACCS graduate, so he’ll be a big help.”