What positions have you played in baseball?
I have played catcher, and second base for my team.
What is the team doing to prepare for this season?
Right now we are on our off, or out of season practice, so we can actually do up to three hours a week of baseball specific practice, and we are lifting three days a week.
What goals are you hoping to achieve this season?
So the first goal always for me is a winning season. So winning more than you lose is the first goal. And I think that’s where I start. And then based on how things are looking, you know, we can adjust that based on winning our conference game.So I really hope to be over 500 in our conference, which I don’t think we were last year. We were close. So it would be 500 for the season, but then also, be over 500 non-conference games.
What will the team have to do for a successful season?
We’re going to be aggressive at the plate and put the ball in play.And we are going to have to reduce errors on the defensive side of the ball.
What are some things you’re looking forward to this season?
I’m looking forward to a new group of guys. Being the JV coach last year, I don’t think there was any freshman up. And, it could be this year.Don’t know. But getting the group of freshmen last year that came up. So it’s getting another group of guys to continue to build them from what Coach Moran did. And how the freshman year went because they had a pretty successful season. So that’s why I’m looking for that. Yeah.
What is the biggest thing that makes this season different from others?
I think the group of seniors this year was one of my best freshman squads that I’ve had when I was a freshman coach. And so when they were freshmen, we. We only lost three games all year. And we lost in the championship game of the GAC tournament. So they were a very good squad. And so now they’re all seniors.And so the juniors that I had for the last two years are up with them. So I’m really looking forward to seeing what the varsity squad can do this year and seeing how these guys can kind of continue to build. We’re really trying to build the program and have winning season after winning season at all three levels, because then we know we’ve got what we got going, and every year we should be doing well.
What would you say is the biggest difference between high school and club ball?
I think the biggest difference for me is high school, your starting freshman and pursuing a state championship. And for club ball and summer ball, you can play in a tournament and maybe 1 to 10 a little bit. You’re going to play in six, eight and nine tournaments over the summer, which is fine.But you never win a state championship. You can only get that high school year.
What was the season like last year?
For my team, for JV? We were just under 500, I think we were like 13 or 14 or 12 and 14, something like that. So we’re just under 500. Played pretty decent baseball, but we made a lot of mistakes. We had a lot of errors, and lost several games that we should have won. So it was a good team. They have a lot of good potential, but I think a lot of it is really focusing on how much do they want to improve, how much did they lock in to where we don’t make those simple mistakes,because most all of those guys will now be up playing at the varsity level. And those mistakes will also be kind of magnetized, someone at freshman level that you make mistakes. And we understand that at the JV level, you’re trying to reduce that. But if you start making two mistakes at the Junior varsity level, good teams are going to take care of you. And that’s what happened to us last year. Yeah.
Who was a big team leader last year?
Wow. For me, for my team. Let’s see, I would say it was two guys. One guy who’s not here this year. He transferred. Is Brody Rhodes. Eli Underwood. Cadence. Yeah. Landon Stewart, they were all pretty good leaders. Couple of them on the field played pretty well. And several of them just with their teammates support. And I think Brody played pretty well when he came in and played in play as much as he wanted because of his positioning and who was in front of him.But he had a big game winning hit for us and, pitched for us a couple times and played, made some plays on defense. So, Brody was pretty, pretty good spark plug last year. Okay. Eli pitched pretty well and Landon played pretty well on defense also. So, the offensive side of the ball. We played well.
Who is North’s rival and are you going to the rival game any different than normal games?
So I would have to say we have the two. Oh gosh. All of our conference games are big rivals. And in our division they’re all rivals. Obviously we try to get up even more. We want to be both in the house. We beat House central. We did not beat home last year. We didn’t beat them.I’m trying to think if I beat them. Ever. Yeah, as a coach. But we’ve come close a couple of times as freshmen. What I had when I was coaching freshmen, we came close a couple times last year. We sucked last year guys out for sure. But we like Troy Zumwalt West. Liberty. Yeah. They’re all big.And I would say we really try to really get locked in and really focus on everything we do. But I try to make that whether it’s the first game or the last game, because I think if you can do it and you get into a habit of that, every game matters just like the other ones.
Does anybody on the team or coaching staff have any memorable pre-game rituals?
I don’t know the answer to that. Some of the guys do. Over the years, some of the guys have had some pre-game stuff that they will do. And again, we’re back into doing certain things where they’ll change and they come on this and do certain things or certain routines some guys will get into, as a coach, I’m kind of flexible.I have my own routines that I want to go into and do, but being a head coach and sometimes you gotta do something with the field, or you got to do something with the batter’s box or the chalk line wasn’t right. Or so it kind of throws mine off because I got to switch new, different stuff. But there’s certain things during the day I try to do and get information out to players that need to have it for the game, too, for the lineups and stuff like that.I kind of have a pretty consistent ritual that I try to do.
What was your favorite game last season?
It would have to be something I can’t remember. I can’t remember the team, but it was probably the walk off when Brody hit the ball, hit the ball to left field. We had a couple spots where we were coming from behind.We tied it up, and then we had a guy get over to, second base. And then Brody came up and he looped the ball over the shortstops head in the short left field. And, the run scored and we won the game on that walk off. So that was probably a better game.
What’s your favorite play you’ve seen either as a coach or a player that you can remember?
I’ve never seen a triple play. I’ve seen one on the major leagues, but, You know, I think the ones that the ones that I like that are memorable to me are when you’re in a tight spot and you get a ball hit, like as a coach, you’re like, man, keep this ball low, get me a ground ball.Let’s get a double play and get out of here. And there was a couple times last year and even the year before as a freshman coach, where we’ve had a quick turn, double play, bang bang gets it out of the inning. And that’s exciting because you hope that guy and you talk about it when they come in, but you hope that was the pitch we needed.And we got the ball we needed and everybody made the play. They got us out of the inning. And I think that goes to show where execution can be so minute, but it can be so impactful. Yeah.
What would you say would be your expected team record this year?
I’m checking our schedule, so I’m hoping we get 20 something games.So I’m really hoping we have a 10 or 12 game win season. Yeah.
What game are you most excited for this season?
How I want to be home every year. My gear up. I want to play how I want to play them. Well, because you play them as a freshman, you play them as JV. You’re playing with varsity, so you’re a freshman and you play them.Some of those are the same guys you’ll be playing as a senior. And some of these guys have been playing these guys for years. And it’s getting ourselves to be able to compete against a very good program and, and beat them and show them that we can do the same things they can do. And we’ve got to get some guys that believe that we got to get some guys that will take leadership roles and do what it takes to get to that level.So I’m excited to play them this year. I think. I think we had a good shot at being a movement.
