In the Big South League, the Coyotes were up against teams in Columbia TN, Pine Bluff AR, Winchester TN, Greenville MS and Meridian MS and came up just under .500. The 1996 Coyotes were a franchise built on hitting, with Alonso Mendoza leading the team in power with 13 2B, 11 HR, 52 RBI and a .293. In front of him were Tony Gonzalez (25 2B, .359) and leadoff man Jeff Rhein (31 SB, .341). Sounds like an impressive lineup and it was... enough to score exactly 6 runs per game. The starting pitching staff however featured Ricky Skiles (1-6, 7.41) and
Scott Veeder (2-5, 6.16) which negated any good the bats did. George Lovett (7-4, 4.31) was the only winning starter.