By Joe Vanden Acker
Director of Athletic Media Relations
    APPLETON, Wis. -- They are familiar faces staking out territory in new places.
    Separated by a generation, Lawrence University baseball coach Trent Whitcomb and softball coach Korey Krueger are tied together as the two Appleton natives embark on initial journeys with their respective programs. 
    Both find themselves taking on fresh roles at Lawrence as their seasons open this week. Whitcomb is Lawrence baseball's interim head coach, and his team is playing a three-game set at Nebraska Wesleyan University on Saturday and Sunday. Krueger returns to Lawrence as the softball coach, and his team opens its season Friday against UW-Stevens Point at the Hodag Dome in Rhinelander. 
    "I would say more excited (than nervous) right now. We've had a long time practicing indoors," Whitcomb said. "We're excited to be outside on an actual field against another opponent instead of going against ourselves as we have for the last five weeks."
    Whitcomb starred in baseball at Appleton North High School and played at Eastern Illinois University before coming back to the Fox Valley. He was a standout player at UW-Oshkosh before graduating in 2016. Whitcomb joined the staff of baseball coach Jason Anderson in 2018 and coached with Chris Krepline, who left for the University of Cincinnati, for the past six years before being elevated to head coach. 
    "I've been doing this for too long to be nervous. I'm excited and a little bit concerned about the team we're playing because they're pretty good," said Krueger, referring to the 23rd-ranked Pointers. "Playing a team like this helps us test our mettle to see where we're at and gives us a pretty good baseline."
    Krueger was a baseball and football star at Appleton West High School and a record-setting player at Lawrence in the mid-1990s. He went on to coach the Lawrence baseball team for 10 seasons. Krueger left Lawrence after the 2007 season but has been instructing softball and baseball players and coaching elite travel teams for more than 15 years. 
    Both men now find themselves ready to put their stamp on these two programs.
    "It's definitely a new beginning," Whitcomb said. "I want to make the program my own but continue the success we've had over the last four seasons."
    With Whitcomb as the team's top assistant, the Vikings went 72-46 over the past three seasons and won Midwest Conference championships in 2022 and 2024. The Vikings won the 2022 Midwest Conference Tournament and played in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 1979. Lawrence set a school season record with 26 victories in 2022 and broke that record with 31 wins in 2024. 
     "In the fall, it was an initial shock with the change, but the guys were really happy with me being the one staying here to take over," Whitcomb said. "It was taking some getting used to being me being the head coach and not just the assistant. During the winter you could see the shift of the guys toward me."
    Whitcomb has continued to direct the offensive and defensive sides of the game and has become more involved with the pitching staff. He doesn't expect a lot to change on gameday. 
    "With me being the third base and hitting coach, once the season starts, nothing is going to change in that sense," Whitcomb said.
    "It's not going to be too much of a difference. The only difference is I'm walking the lineup card out there. I'm excited to be able to control the game management, and I'm just excited to start playing games. You can only practice for so long. You just want to see what our team has."
    Krueger is taking the Bull Durham approach with his Vikings. To quote the film, "This is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball."  
    "We worked on pitching, hitting, catching and keeping it simple. Get off the field so we can hit," Krueger said.
    "I think these guys are going to be competitive and get after it. … There's good senior leadership here, and the junior class is very strong. The one thing we're going to work hard at is hitting the ball and scoring runs. We're also better defensively than I thought we would be so you don't know where that's going to take us."
    Krueger, who was just three years removed from his college playing days when he became the baseball coach at Lawrence, believes he has matured as a coach and loves the direction of the Department of Athletics.
    "I was looking forward to coming back to Lawrence and being a part of the staff," Krueger said. "The changes to the athletic landscape -- it's so different than when I was here before. It's along the lines of being part of that competitive situation and having support. I've been looking forward to that since I was hired."
    The other factor for returning to his alma mater was more more personal and involves assistant coach Tony Krueger, his son and a former NCAA Division I baseball player at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
    "Getting to coach with my son is definitely a highlight. It comes full circle," Krueger said. "He's done a great job helping out, and I'm excited to see the coach he is and the coach he's going to become. He loves coaching softball. He tells me that all the time. It's cool stuff to see your son play and now to have him standing next to you in the dugout."
    Krueger also takes solace in the fact that he has a full squad starting out this time around. It was a tougher go with baseball back in 1998.  
    "Coach (Tracy) Cromer didn't leave the cupboard bare here," Krueger said. "I had 10 baseball players and didn't know who the catcher was going to be here. That was a tough situation. We have a team here. That's way different than the baseball situation was. It was tenuous. I remember my assistant coach Chad Barker saying, 'Hey, we can still get out of here.' Obviously, we stuck it out."
    And now he's back for more.