After a week of ice and snow sabotaged the start of baseball season the weather was prime for the first week on the diamond and East Webster got plenty of ball in on the week.
Coach Jordan Smith mentioned a week ago that he was concerned with the number of days his players missed due to the weather and his concerns came true early. Going up against New Hope and Amory to begin the week, the Wolverines dropped both games by 10 runs and Smith said his team had to go back to work.
“We found out exactly what we needed to work on,” Smith said. “Early on in the week we looked like that was our first games of the year. We hit the ball very well and that’s what we’ve been able to work on the most in the indoor facilities. On Tuesday we looked like we haven’t practiced much because we weren’t able to pick up a ball for 10 days.”
After those two losses, EWHS bounced back in a big way and came back on the weekend taking two games against Nanih Waiya and Choctaw County to get back on track and to .500 in week one of the season.
The Wolverines (2-2) ran into a buzzsaw in the second inning of game one against New Hope when a 3-0 lead evaporated in the first two innings as the Trojans put up 10 runs in the second to take a 10-3 lead. Though it was cut to 10-5 going into the bottom of the third, a three-run frame put the game away for good.
Gavin Edwards led the team in hitting going 2-for-3 in the game and Luke McKee and Anthony Medine hit homer runs in the loss. Against Amory, there were no big hits for the Wolverines to speak of as the Panthers won10-0 and held EWHS to just two hits in the game.
The Wolverines gave up just four of their own and errors and walks played a major part in it with four errors and eight free passes.
The bounce back came on the weekend as the team went to Nanih Waiya to take on the Warriors and the Chargers. The day began with a 12-1blowout win against the Warriors as Chandler Hodges came in fresh off of basketball season and threw 2.0 innings of one-hit, one-run ball striking out two batters. Fellow basketball teammate Cade Morrow went 4.0 shutout innings, surrendered two hits, no runs, three walks and three strikeouts in the win.
Hastings Gibson was a perfect 4-for-4 with five RBI, two doubles and a home run. McKee went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Kendall Carden drove in three runs.
Against the Chargers, EWHS got a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning and walked it off in the fifth of a shortened ball game to hold off CCHS5-4.
Kainan Reed started the game and went 4.0 innings, gave up just three hits and one run, struck out five and walked four. The pitching in both games would be big for the Wolverines to get the two big wins.
“It started with our starting pitchers. They pounded the zone, we defended it and made some timely hits. I was proud of our bunch and how they responded,” Smith said. “We got Chandler Hodges and Cade Morrow back from basketball and they were outstanding. Our bats were nuts against Nanih Waiya too. We threw Kainan Reed against Choctaw County and he pitched well too.”
With the positive momentum, Smith just wants his team to keep playing now. The weather has done a number on the fields over the last two weeks and the Wolverines have yet to even play on theirs.
Tuesday the team was slated to play at West Point in a game that would have happened after press time. The home opener is expected to be on Thursday against French Camp Academy with a Saturday road game against West Lauderdale.
“I expect to see some good opponents. One thing I’ve been preaching to our kids not to play up or down to our opponent but to play at a high level and play East Webster baseball,” Smith said. “We’re trying to play to a certain level, regardless of who we play. If we do that, I think we’ll be in every game that we play. Not overlooking West Point or French Camp, but going into Saturday we’re playing one of the most prestigious programs in Mississippi High School history and I’m really excited about that. We know that’s going to propel us into division play.”
