There was no other choice for Cole McBride than to throw his youngsters into the fire that is Class 2A baseball last season.
It was year one for McBride and he was inheriting a team full of sophomores and eighth graders that had to carry the load. They took their lumps against teams like Calhoun City, East Webster, Nanih Waiya, and East Union.
Now, this year’s team is better off for it and they’re going to be better off for it for the foreseeable future.
“These kids show up every day and they work hard. I demand a lot out of them, and they buckle up and go to work,” McBride said. “We had to go through some bumps last year, but they came back every day ready to compete and get after it. We’ve grown a lot this year and our pitchers have stepped up.”
Every player at every key spot will return this season for the Eagles. The juniors especially are poised for big things as Carter May returns with his .451 batting average, eight doubles, two triples and two home runs a year ago as well as Reed Hale who was .377, Landon Davis at .352 and Parker Knight who batted .319.
The pitching should be especially strong as the entire core group is back with Cade Adkins, Hale, Knight, May and freshman Chris Robinson. That group of four combined for 111 of the team’s 144 strikeouts a season ago and is even better this season.
The Eagles already had a chance to get their first action underway last week when they traveled to Houston and got a huge 4-2 win over a really good Class 3A program. Adkins started the game and gave up a run in the first inning on a hit and two walks before settling in and striking out three batters.
Adkins threw 2.0 innings, May threw 0.2 and Robinson closed the game out with 4.1 strong innings of relief where he scattered four hits and a run and struck out six batters. The pitching allowed the Eagles to settle in before taking the lead in the fourth inning with two runs and they scored two more in the fifth. They gave up one run in the seventh inning but Robinson made sure that was all.
Knight led the way in the game with his 3-for-3 day knocking in all but two base knocks. May was 1-for-3 with a game-high two RBI.
“I thought our pitchers threw well and gave us a shot to win the game all the way through,” McBride said. “We had a freshman come in and throw four innings of relief and that was big for us. The kids played hard.”
The Eagles got a chance to start their home season on Tuesday if rain cooperated when they played host to Vardaman. They’ll hit the road again on Friday when they go to Ethel for a 6 p.m. first pitch and they travel to West Point on Saturday to take on the Green Wave at 1 p.m.
