Melrose baseball coach resigns

Melrose is looking for a new baseball coach.

Drooper Greenwalt, who had coached the team on a contract basis for the five seasons of the program's existence, said he was asked to resign the position on Friday morning.

Melrose superintendent Jamie Widner didn't give specifics on the situation.

"We chose to go a different direction, and he resigned," Widner said.

Greenwalt, whose team reached the semifinals of the Class 1A state baseball tournament earlier this month, said he wasn't aware of a problem nor was he told anything specific in that regard.

"I had to resign (Friday) morning," he said. "I was either going to resign or be terminated. The reason he (Widner) gave me was the baseball program needed to go in another direction.

"If they thought there was a problem, you'd think they'd come to me and say, 'Let's fix this.' But they didn't."

The Buffaloes went 16-8 this spring, losing to District 3-1A rival Floyd 7-4 in the state semifinals. The team was young with a number of eighth-graders getting regular playing time.

Last year, Melrose posted its first winning record (13-10), losing in the 1A state quarterfinals to eventual champion Capitan.