In the midst of a five-game winning streak, East Webster baseball is on hiatus at the worst possible time.
Head coach Jordan Smith is excited about his 2020 team’s potential and they have been on a roll all the way through spring break. But the recent announcement by the Mississippi High School Activities Association to suspend sports until March 29 due to the coronavirus has put all of that on hold.
Smith has been up front and honest with his players about what could be ahead.
“I met with them at the end of spring break before we cancelled and communicated with them what’s going on and laid out a guideline for us,” Smith said. “I talked to them about what we’re looking at from the virus and trying to give them factual information. The season isn’t over yet so we talked about what they can be doing hitting and working out on their own.”
Before the suspension of the season came, EWHS had a good day of baseball during spring break last Monday.
Taking on Oak Hill Academy at East Central Community College’s Spring Break Tournament in Decatur, the Wolverines got 5.0 strong innings of one-run ball from sophomore pitcher Jesse Roberts. His work along with Gray McCarter’s helped EWHS while it got the offense going in a 4-3 win.
The Wolverines fell behind 3-0 in the fourth before tallying three runs in the bottom of the frame and the eventual game-winning run in the fifth for the win. Cameron Pilgrim led the team with two hits and a double and Luke McKee had two RBI with a triple.
Later that afternoon, EWHS traveled back towards home before making a stop in Louisville to take on Winston Academy. They took advantage of three errors in a six-run fourth inning in order to take home an 8-4 win to keep the winning streak alive.
“We won both of those games and both are quality teams. We’ve won five in a row and I was really excited about getting into district play which would have started on Tuesday,” Smith said. “We were putting everything together. Guys had started throwing strikes and that was definitely helping us out.”
EWHS (6-3) now enters the realm of uncertainty. They know that they won’t play for another two weeks at the minimum which had scheduled games against Class 2A, Region 2 teams Bruce and Eupora both home and away as well as a couple of non conference games against Newton County and French Camp Academy.
Smith has had to think about the possibility that his senior players and his team won’t have a chance to see just how good they can be this year. With an extended suspension, there might not be any more baseball in 2020, a thought that hurts Smith to the core.
“When I first found out about it, it was frustrating for multiple reasons. It’s more than a game. A lot of people don’t understand that,” Smith said. “I look at my job not only as a source of income, but I also look at it as a calling to teach about life. Our season began really when school started in August building a culture and a brotherhood. It’s extremely frustrating because now all the hard work is about to come into fruition, and it gets stopped.
“I’m frustrated because I have a good team. I was very confident with the group of guys that I have and the quality of baseball I felt like we could produce is very high. It gets emotional when you think about the seniors that I have. It’s disappointing to think about the fact they may not get a chance to finish their season.”
