Jason Duey, formerly of Norwood, is a head baseball coach again as he takes over full-time this spring with the Seymour Tigers.
Duey, who was head coach at Norwood for nine seasons and an assistant coach with Seymour last season, inherits a Seymour team that went 7-18 overall last season and will have many underclassmen in the lineup.
Seymour is hoping to lure senior Cy Yates over from the basketball team to play baseball. If Yates plays, he will likely be Seymour’s only senior.
“With such a young group, we are trying to adopt a long-term vision with a short-term focus,” Duey said.
Brady Brooke was a regular starter at shortstop as a freshman and finished with a batting average around .220. Brooke didn’t pitch in the fall season due to injury, but Duey expects the sophomore to see significant action on the mound this spring if he’s healthy.
Catcher Eric Helms was another freshman in Seymour’s starting lineup last season. The sophomore showed “vast improvement” in the fall season, Duey said, and he’ll be Seymour’s primary catcher in 2017.
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Junior Dee Garner will be another important two-way player for the Tigers. He’ll be near the top of Seymour’s pitching rotation and be a starting outfielder when not on the mound.
“(Garner) did not have much pitching experience before (last fall) but provided us with a ton of quality innings,” Duey said. “He is still learning the game but has a lot of raw talent.”
Although the Tigers won only seven games last season, they played competitive until the end. As a 6-seed in the district tournament, Seymour defeated 3-seed Hartville 2-0 in its opening game.
Seymour’s season ended with a 5-2 loss to No. 2 seed Seymour in the district semifinals.
Seymour’s district – Class 2 District 10 – also includes Fordland, Gainesville, Mansfield, Norwood and Sparta.
