MOSES LAKE — He just kind of gave one of those quick, sideways glances before a smile formed on his face as the water from a steady drizzle during Thursday's practice dripped off the bill of his ballcap.

“I want to win every game,” first-year Big Bend Community College baseball manger Jameson Lange said when asked if the win at home and split on the road ideal was part of his coaching philosophy. “You can't just not show up, because every game is important in this league.”

Lange's a Big Bend guy.

He came through the baseball program (2005-06) on his way to Centenary College in Shreveport, La. In 39 games, Lange led the Vikings with a .344 average and a team-leading .453 on-base percentage. An outfielder from Kent, he was among the NWAC leaders with 37 runs scored from the lead-off position. He finished in the top 20 in the league in hitting in 2007.

After his playing days, Lange spent five years coaching on longtime Columbia Basin coach Pete Doumit's staff. Pete had a couple of stints at Big Bend from 1979-82 and again from 2012-17.

Now it's his turn and the first-year skipper currently has the Vikings in third place in the NWAC East.

“Pete is my mentor and I learned more about the game in the last five years than I ever knew. It was like our staff now. We were always bouncing things off each other,” Lange said. “The program was built by Pete Doumit. I'm just putting my own little touches on my style and how I go about it, and I'm not there yet.”

Lange has surrounded himself with great baseball minds and a staff dedicated to taking Big Bend baseball to the next level. His staff includes Ryan Doumit, who spent seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and two with Minnesota, and finished up his 10-year Major League career in Atlanta. The staff also has Craig Carter, Mitchell Darlington, Steve Keller, and Reign Letkeman.

“Honestly, it's not a big change and the transition has been smooth,” Lange said. “I couldn't find a better coaching staff. We bounce things off each other and about 95 percent of the time, we're all on the same page. Every time that Ryan (Doumit) puts something on (as the third base coach), I'm thinking the exact thing in the dugout.

“We're very lucky to have a guy (Ryan) like that, that's been around the game as long as he has at the level he has. He can coach to the expectations of what it's like to play at a high level. Our job is to prepare them for the next level and for life. What better guy than someone that's been to the big leagues?”

The Vikings finished second in the NWAC tournament in 1997 and won the 2001 Eastern Division championship and later tied for third at the tournament. That 2001 team included Chad Spellman, an all-NWAC first team selection that hit .350 and later played at Washington State University. Some of the other players that have come through the Big Bend program include Gordon Corder, a two-time league MVP who went on to play at Gonzaga and later signed with the Oakland A's.

Kyle Heaverlo went on to play at the NCAA Division I level in Louisiana, before returning to coach with Donnie Lindgren at Big Bend. Dustin Knight played a season for the Vikings (2002) en route to a career at North Carolina State, where he played on the Wolfpack team that eventually lost to Miami in the College World Series Super Regionals in 2003.

They'd like to get back to where they are competing at the NWAC baseball championships on a regular basis, but on the other side of all of that is developing young men.

“Jameson focuses on doing things the right way. Not just on the field, but in the classroom and being a good citizens. One of his sales pitches to his recruits is that if you come here you're not only going to be a better baseball player, but a better man,” Doumit said. “It's not just lip service. It's something he's very proud of and it's been very, very fun for me to work with him.”

Lange and his staff are on the same page in terms of the end game at Big Bend.

“Part of the responsibility as a coach is to push a kid on,” Doumit said. “If a kid wants to extend his baseball career, it's our job to push him on to the next level.

“But in the same breath, we want to develop them into quality men that get it done in the classroom and people that can be leaders and make a positive contribution to society when they leave here.”

Pete Doumit coached his kids and everybody else's kids the same way: “Work hard, play hard and play the game like you love it.”

That hasn't changed at Big Bend Community College, probably never will.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer with the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com