An icy week is going to halt any production for the Winston Academy Patriots on the baseball diamond this week but the team was busy in the previous week competing against some of the best in the state and nationally to get the year started.
Head coach Charlie Smith enters his third year at the helm with the Patriots and he has a young team to develop. A lot of the youngsters were in their first games as full-time starters last week and were immediately thrown into the fire.
Sandwiched between a win over Pillow Academy in the home opener, the Patriots played a practice game against one of the best teams in the country in Jackson Prep and lost at Madison-Ridgeland Academy. Both games were losses, but they also gave the Patriots something to strive for the rest of the season.
“I learned that we aren’t quite where we need to be. The teams we played got 10 or 12 seniors on them and we’ve got one senior and there’s a lot more experience and playing time is what I saw,” Smith said. “I just feel like we’re a little behind some folks. Against Prep we played well on the infield but against MRA we booted it around. We had two bad mistakes that snowballed.”
Jackson Prep and MRA have combines for over 20 players that are going to end up playing ball on the next level, many of which will be playing in the SEC or in Division-I. It made for some great competition for the Patriots as they will face some tough competition in MAIS District 2-4A play this season. While the Prep game didn’t count on the schedule, MRA won a 15-1 game handily after scoring 15-straight runs due to some mistakes early in the game.
Most of those mistakes were absent early against Pillow in the true season-opener and the Patriots jumped out to a 7-1 lead and held it most of the game. However, Smith wasn’t happy with how the team closed as Pillow jumped back in the game late and made it close with WA prevailing, 7-6.
“We played pretty well. The seventh inning was an ordeal, but we started pretty well,” Smith said of the Pillow win. “There’s been a lot of bright moments for us so far but we’ve got to be able to put it together.”
Smith’s roster is very young and not very deep but his pitching should be strong by the end of the year. Junior Brylee Wall returns on the mound after throwing in four games last year and posting a 1.62 ERA as the team’s best pitcher.
The Pats also return Cam Sanders as he’s coming back from injury, and juniors Aiden Fancher and Dalton Powell. Smith said that the group is pitching well and will only get better with more innings.
As for the field, there are a lot of new faces. Smith had to replace key seniors Hunter Gregory, Jackson Joiner, J.T. McGinnis and Jody McCorkle and it’s by committee at some spots while others have no choice but to perform despite the inexperience.
“We’ve got a new catcher in Jett Joiner and he’s basically called his first games this year. He’s throwing the ball well and blocking the ball good. We’ve got a new first baseman in Trey Williamson as a sophomore and he’s getting his first real varsity action. We’ve played JT McGinnis and Max Fulcher at second base which is new starters and we’ve played Cam Sanders, Hayze Gregory and Brylee Wall all at short depending on who is pitching,” Smith said. “Our numbers are real thin. We’re dragging seventh and eighth graders to us on the road.”
Continuing the schedule this week is going to be quite difficult. With wintry weather muddying up the first of the week, the Pillow game scheduled for Tuesday in Greenwood was cancelled. The Patriots were also expected to host MRA on Thursday but that game is doubtful. The team has a scheduled game with Oak Hill Academy at home on Friday as well.
