BLACKSVILLE — Last year at this time, Clay-Battelle baseball coach Johnny Coombs was quite bullish about his team. He had six experienced seniors coming back, including Salem University recruit Kohlton St. Clair, so it was no surprise that a successful season was somewhat expected.
However, baseball simply does not work like that, as the Cee-Bees’ disappointing 6-18 record indicated.
“I don’t know. It was just one of those years, maybe,” Coombs said, attempting to explain. “We played very well in stretches during games, but either couldn’t secure the final out or couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it most. We couldn’t seem to consistently put together a full 7-inning game, and it cost us a lot of games.”
But then was then and now is now, and there is no more optimistic time of the year than baseball pre-season, so it’s not surprising that Coombs is once again enthusiastic about what his team can accomplish this year.
“We’ve got a good, experienced core coming back,” he explained, “beginning with our No. 1 pitcher and shortstop, JC Spears, and Austin Foley, who was an All-OVAC catcher last season. The pitching staff will have three experienced sophomores (Cooper Statler, Cam Mercer and Cayden Strosnider), and a couple freshmen will give us some innings as well. We have solid numbers (17 players), with lots of depth and positional options, which is always good.
“We’re spending a lot of time in the cage during this wet spring,” he continued, “and we are really stressing the idea of making contact at the plate. If you put the ball in play, you force the defense to produce an out. And while a fly ball might occasionally fall in, ground balls force defenses to catch it, throw it, and catch it again. So we’re preaching making contact as a way of putting pressure on defenses. After all, it’s usually the team that makes the least number of mistakes that wins, so we want to force as many mistakes as we can. I think this could lead to more big innings, and big innings usually translate into wins.”
From his perspective, Spears felt that the talent to win is comparable for both last year and this year, and he sees a different attitude as a key component.
“We had good players last year, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” the senior recalled. “I think we were maybe a little too passive, waiting for things to happen rather than going out and making things happen. I think we have a strong pitching staff, an experienced infield, and solid outfielders coming in. If we all get involved as a team, stay in the game and keep our energy up, I think we can play up to our potential this year.
“We want to flip the script,” Spears concluded. “We plan on shocking teams this year, and I know we can get it done.”
Other seniors for the Cee-Bees are Owen Henthorn, Joseph Stewart and Brady Nestor. Juniors are Foley, Dylan Nash, Tucker Summers and Alex Danser.
Rounding out the underclassmen are sophomores Josh Wilson, Colton Chaney and Aiden Wilson and freshmen Corey Coen, Ashton Hallett and Dakota Toothman.
BY MARK SCHRAF
