Lexi Maxwell looks on during a Williamstown baseball game this season. Maxwell, previously the Williamstown head coach, has been hired as the new skipper at Parkersburg South. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Levi Maxwell is changing dugouts.

After spending six seasons leading the Williamstown baseball program, Maxwell was approved Tuesday night by the Wood County Board of Education to take over the reins at Parkersburg South, replacing Bryan Youngblood.

“The big thing was it’s close to where we live. We live in Mineral Wells,” Maxwell said of wife Jordan and sons Chet and Louis. “My kid’s involved in the Mineral Wells baseball youth league. I think too it’s an opportunity to be in quad-A at a school that has a good, solid baseball past and has produced some pretty good players throughout the years like the (Grant) Hussey kid.

“It’s always been an opportunity to get to a higher level and I think it’s the type of team that I feel like that could end up having the dominance it used to have back in the day. I saw the opportunity and went with it.”

Maxwell guided the Yellowjackets to a pair of Little Kanawha Conference championships and advanced to the state tournament thrice, which included a state runner-up to Charleston Catholic in 2024 along with getting the school’s first state tournament victory after topping Buffalo in the semifinals.

Parkersburg South fans should expect the Patriots to be much like the ‘Jackets when it comes to being super aggressive.

“We’re going to steal a lot of bases,” admitted Maxwell, who won a state title in 2003 during his senior year at Lincoln before going on to pitch at West Virginia University where he earned his degree four years later in athletic coaching education. “We’re going to put bunts down. We’re going to move runners over.

“We’re going to play good, clean, hard baseball. I think this group is, from what I’ve seen and what I know about Parkersburg South, there are some super hard-nosed kids from blue collar families that are really going to be competitive, and are going to run through a wall for you, so that’s what I’m looking for.”

Maxwell said two of his top priorities in the near future are assembling his coaching staff and getting to meet his players.

“I don’t know them yet. I know that there will be a few guys that are going to follow with me and we’ll kind of hash that out once we get to that point, but I think obviously there’s a lot of people to meet at this point and just kind of figure out from there what’s going to be the best staff to put together,” said the coach.

“I definitely want to get the team together at some point here pretty soon after the dead period to get to meet the players. I’ve watched a couple of them play legion ball over the past few days and got a feel for just to see what guys are out there. This weekend I’m going to go watch some players as well just to feel out how some guys are playing and where they might fit into the equation.”

Maxwell added of what he knows currently about his roster “there’s a lot of really good young guys coming up through. I’ve kind of tried to look at some of their stats and some of their lines and things that they’ve done. There are definitely some super athletic kids and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Maxwell, who was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball draft and played three seasons in the minors, also had coaching stops at West Virginia Wesleyan and Concord before spending two years guiding Wirt County’s program.

“The ultimate goal is to win the state championship,” stressed Maxwell, who works at Marietta College as a philanthropy officer. “There is no other goal. That’s what we are going to strive to do every year.”

Leaving the Williamstown program behind wasn’t an easy decision and Maxwell is more than appreciative of the opportunity he was given.

“It was an unbelievable time,” he said. “I had the best assistants, best families and I think the big thing is the kids did a great job of buying into everything we were trying to accomplish. There was never a time that I felt they didn’t understand what we were trying to do and what the ultimate goal was, so they continued to fight and claw their way through. Honestly, they did everything we asked of them.

“We came up short a few times, but for what it was worth they gave everything they had and what Terry Smith did to kind of give us that base to go off of with the program’s expectations, and that was awesome. It’s easy when you can just walk in and start and already have that ground work already made for you. We were super blessed with unbelievable talent, players and great kids. I think the same thing is going to be said for Parkersburg South.”

The Patriots, who went 19-13 two years ago and graduated 10 seniors, finished 12-24 this spring.

“I’m super appreciative of the administration at South for trusting and envisioning what I have in mind coming there and I appreciate them giving me the opportunity,” Maxwell said. “I’m super thankful for that and ready to get started. Go Patriots. Go South.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com