War Eagles baseball enters a new season; expects to win regions

The+baseball+team+started+off+their+season+in+February+and+have+a+current+7-2+record.+The+team+is+confident+in+their+pitching+staff+and+want+to+bring+home+the+regional+tittle.+

Kayleigh Emberton

The baseball team started off their season in February and have a current 7-2 record. The team is confident in their pitching staff and want to bring home the regional tittle.

Kayleigh Emberton, Senior Editor

The crack of the bat brings in the runners on base. A quick 5-4-3 double play ends the inning and the crowd roars in excitement. The boys congratulate each other on the win and the coach lectures on what they can do to improve. This is baseball. This is what the season is about, improving and winning.

The South Forsyth Baseball Team, despite many cancellations due to rain, started regional play on March 12 and have a winning record of 7-2. With a H.I.T tournament in Charleston over spring break, the team will be working hard to bring the regional tittle to South. The four teams with the best record, in the region, will then move onto the state playoffs, and South is determined to be one of the four teams.

Head Coach Russ Bayer is especially excited for what the team may accomplish once they advance into the end of their season, “I feel very good about these young men – they have matured tremendously from last season not only with the way they carry themselves on the field and in the dugout, they have really bought in to the new things we have incorporated this year”.

They are expecting a positive season that will lead them to dominate the regional competition. The team has an excellent pitching crew consisting of three returning starters, Ben Ferrer, Cooper Davidson, and Landon Sims as well as five valuable defensive players returning this season: Matty Bapst, Bradley Prince, Grant Gerberding, Drew Becker, and Ryan Finegan. Even with the talent the team has acquired, most players on the team agree that they must practice their hitting in addition to perfecting their defense.

“Pitching has been good, our hitting could be better, and then we need to play a little bit better defense” says one of the starting pitchers, Landon Sims.

Right now our biggest strength is our pitching staff. We are very fortunate to have 3 seasoned veterans with a lot of Varsity experience that are all committed to play collegiately at Division 1 schools. If we throw to our capability we should be a tough team to beat in region play.

— Coach Bayer

The team prepares for its games by practicing fundamentals and situational plays. Core skills like hitting, defense, and pitch work are something that they must practice every day in order to succeed. The team is still making changes to its defense, but as the boys collaborate and perfect their weaker areas, there is no reason that they cannot be an unstoppable team.

“I think we will do well, our goal is to win the region, so that is in reach,” defensive player Matty Bapst said.

“I think we will do really good,” pitcher Cooper Davidson said. “We should be one of the better teams in the region.”

Come out and watch the war eagles’ baseball team on their journey to victory.