WCMS baseball team preparing for season
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Most notably, lights have been added to Pioneer Park, allowing the squad to play night games for the first time since renovations on the field began a few years ago.
With that work completed, it?s now time for the Pioneers to work on the team that hits that diamond this spring.
Head coach Brent Whitlock and the Pioneers have been hard at work over the past several days, honing their skills and polishing their fundamentals in preparation for the 2007 baseball season, which begins March 8 with a weekend filled with scrimmages at Coffee County.
Whitlock noted one of this year?s team?s strengths will be the amount of experienced players returning to the club.
?Last year at times, we had five or six seventh-graders playing,? he said. ?So this year we?ve got those players back with us. The intensity level has been high the first two weeks of practice, and we have already come a long way. Knowing that we still have a long way to go, I am enthused with the attitude of kids at this point.?
As far as success on the diamond in 2007, Whitlock said pitching and fielding will be two major keys, and noted he has been pleased with the way the Pioneers have performed at the plate thus far during the preseason.
?As is the case so many times, we will go as far as our pitching and defense will take us,? he said. ?This year?s staff is as deep as any I have had in the last four years. Defensively, we will have to bring our best performance each day. While we are returning guys with experience, we have key positions to fill.
?Offensively, the guys have been swinging the bats well for early spring. The weather backed us up a little, but we are able to maximize the outside time with the new lights that were installed this fall.?
The Pioneers? regular season opens March 12, with a 5 p.m. home game against Manchester Westwood.
?The schedule should be a very competitive one this spring. For the first time, we will be competing for a conference championship. The kids get a chance to play many of the same opponents they will see in high school and they compete at a high level every night out.?