40 vie for spots on WC baseball roster

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard

Casey Dunn, left, and Cory Sullivan participate in timed running drills during WCHS baseball tryouts. (Rob Nunley photo)

The Warren County High School baseball program is just a few weeks removed from the end of its 2005 campaign.

But over the weekend at Patrick Ramsey Field, the Pioneers began taking steps toward building next season’s squad, as they held tryouts for the 2006 club.

Around 40 players came out to try for spots on the team, and were put through their paces by head coach J.W. Holt and his staff.

“Everything went really well,” Holt said of the tryouts, which began last Friday but weren’t completed until Monday, as several upperclassmen had to miss Saturday’s second section to attend a Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Showcase tryout.

“We had a good turnout, and saw a lot of talented kids.”

In the end, 30 ballplayers made the final cut, including eight upcoming freshmen, 11 sophomores, three juniors and eight rising seniors.

After losing six seniors from this spring’s team, which accumulated a 20-13 record, Holt said pitching will be one of next year’s teams main priorities.

“We’ll have some young pitchers,” he said. “After (Colby) Killian and (Derrin) Rogers, there will a good chance for some of these upcoming juniors or sophomores to step up and do some pitching for us.

“We’ll be young, but there will be a good opportunity for some of these talented younger guys to step into some important roles for us.”

(Editor’s note: The Pioneers held their season-ending awards ceremony earlier this week, with several players recognized for their performance this spring. For details as well as highlights of the annual father-vs.-son softball game, see Friday’s Standard.)