BECKLEY — Barely into autumn, business goes on for the West Virginia Miners.

Coming off the team’s second season that saw a divisional championship and a loss to the Quincy Gems in the Prospect League championship game, there were plenty of positives for manager Tim Epling to look back on. The Miners hosted the league’s All-Star game, for which four West Virginia players were selected, and the organization finished in the top five in league attendance.

Epling recently sat down to reflect on 2011 and to gaze into the future.



R-H: How big for the franchise was not just getting back to the playoffs, but playing in the championship game?

TE: That let us know that we’re going in the right direction. After our first year, we kind of made adjustments with what we needed to do. We understood the league a little better and we understood the kind of players we need to get in here. So from that standpoint, I think it was really good for our organization.

The goal was always to win but, realistically, I always knew that Quincy was pretty darn good. They were in the top 20 in the country. I think at one time they were 15th. So that’s where I would like to see us. The expectations that I have as far as what I expect to see is for us to be a top 25 team, right now.

I think when you start reaching that kind of pinnacle, I think that’s going to see us be more consistent in winning the championship.



R-H: What do you think it will take to get to that level?

TE: Well, this is going to be our third year, and you have to establish yourself with some of these coaches across the country. They have to have faith that you are going to protect their players and, at the same time, get them better throughout the year. A lot of guys come in here with high expectations of signing a pro contract. That’s their mind-set, but they still have to play through their junior year. The college coaches really want to see their players protected, number one, and I think we have done a great job with that.

With that said, the recruiting process has already started. I think we are on the right track. I think people are going to be pleased — at least, I hope — with the players we are going to get. Not saying we didn’t have good players last year. I think every year you have to reload to a certain degree.

That’s the nature of the beast. I would like to keep all the kids that we had. We have to do what’s best for the organization. Sometimes it’s tough to say, “We need to go in another direction.” But sometimes you have to do that.



R-H: Do you have any commitments so far for next year?

TE: Yes. We’ve talked to some people out in California. We’re networking. We’re getting ready to go down to South Carolina; there’s some Division I schools there. I think we’re going to get some high-profile players from other parts of the country that other teams in the league have not seen before. I think it’s good for us to do that.



R-H: Have you actually been on the road recruiting?

TE: Yes. We’re trying to fix our schedule for the month of October. Our goal is to get about 20 of our players signed by the end of October. So we’ve got to get on it.



R-H: Was Clay Prestridge the biggest surprise for you?

TE: Yes, and another one was Blake Roberts, knowing how Blake (improved from) last year to this year.

Watching Clayton as he walked through the door, I’m expecting a 6-1, 6-2 catcher. All of a sudden I see this little guy come in, and I say, “Oh. You’re him, huh? OK.” I told coach (Jeff Wallace) he better get on the danggone phone. We’ve got to get us another one in here, too, in case this one doesn’t work out. Lo and behold, after the first game, I said, “Uh oh. We’ve got something special.”

Clayton was a pleasant surprise. I told him he needed to get with his track coach (at UC Riverside). He has all the tools to be at the next level, except he has to be a little quicker with his feet. If he does that, and if he can get his feet down a little bit, he will definitely be somebody who is going to sign with somebody.



R-H: How stressful was it to be the manager and the interim general manager at the same time?

TE: It was probably one of the most challenging things I have done in my life, because of the timing aspect of it. It was two months before the season started, and a lot of things that were undone. To pick up the pieces, plus manage the team, it was very challenging. It was something that, I’m glad it happened, because it gave me a different perspective of what we have to do as an organization. It was good for me. I don’t want to do it again, as far as being under the gun like that.

Now, after the season is over, I have been able to evaluate the whole process, evaluate the whole organization from a coaching standpoint and from an organizational standpoint, and I think we did some things very well. And I think we need to do some things better. At the end of the year, you evaluate your players. But you also have to evaluate yourself, you have to evaluate your coaches and you have to evaluate some things we did as far as game management, some of the entertainment stuff that we did and that sort of thing. There were some things that I liked and some that I didn’t like.

From a game standpoint, the game that really bothered me the whole year was the (game at) Richmond (July 2). It bothered me more than the championship, because it was my fault. Here we have a six-run lead I think it was, going into the seventh inning, and before the game we mapped it out. The starting pitcher was going to throw an X amount of innings, then we’re going to have a middle relief guy, we’re going to have a set-up guy, we’re going to have a closer. We had it all pre-done. That game, that’s what we did. We stuck to a game plan.

Well, I learned a lesson. I should have managed the game and not pre-set everything in place. I’ll never do that again, because we lost that game. At the end of the first half (of the season), we were struggling and we barely got in (the playoffs). That game was big and we had to wait until the last day (of the half) to do something, and it shouldn’t have been that way. That was my fault, and I told the team it was my fault. I will never do that again.

From the organizational standpoint, I think we did a great job of trying to entertain the people. The fireworks display (after the All-Star game), that was crazy. I had never seen anything like that. I liked the special days we had for different organizations. We had the Special Needs Night, and I like the church night. And next year we are really going to concentrate on the community even more. We have some special things in mind that we want to bring the entire southern part of the state together.

Summers County, Wyoming County, Nicholas County, Fayette, Raleigh, Mercer, all those counties. All those people come to Beckley. We are not where we’re at unless we have those people and that support. And we’re getting it. It takes a lot. It takes a lot of teamwork and community support for us to run our organization.

We’re very thankful for the support that we have gotten.

— E-mail: gfauber@

register-herald.com