By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For teams unable to play last season due to the Covid cancellations, summer proved to be an opportunity to get in a great deal of work and development in a short time.
Branson and longtime head coach Troy Nimmo — entering his 27th season at the school — took full advantage of the opportunity.
“We were lucky enough to play summer ball together,” Nimmo said. “Most of my 2020 seniors played and all last year’s juniors, so it was nice to get a season in traveling around the Midwest to showcase tournaments. Our players have all stepped up with the Covid going on. They know it (baseball) can be taken at any time.”
A quintet of returning seniors will lead the Pirates this season in pitcher Luke Allison, pitcher/first baseman Zach Kearney Doyle, outfielder Tanner Winslow, pitcher/first baseman Jackson Miller and pitcher/outfielder Dominick Kimberlin.
They will be joined by a host of returning juniors including pitcher/third baseman Carter Jenkins, pitcher/infielder Ridge Schroeder, pitcher/shortstop Lance Strahan, pitcher/first baseman Kale Lankton, pitcher/infielder James Houston, pitcher/outfielder Jacob McCright and pitcher/catcher/infielder Blake Green.
The Pirates will also benefit from a deep and talented incoming class that Nimmo expects to compete for playing time immediately.
“We have a huge freshman class that has had a great deal of success over the years, and several of them will push all the older players to get better,” Nimmo said. “We will have a great deal of competition and all positions this year which will mean a player must come ready every day to stay in the lineup. Lineup could change a great deal early on to see who can perform. Like to be settled on a lineup when we start conference play.”
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On the mound, Branson won’t feature a dominant velocity arm; however, the Pirates will hope to utilize depth, location and defense to remain competitive this season.
“We have pretty good depth pitching and several guys who throw strikes, but no big velocity guy on the mound,” Nimmo said. “Our staff has to throw strikes in/out/up/down and mix speeds and let the defense make plays.”
Branson’s strength early on should be its defense, according to Nimmo.
“Looking at things early I think we will be very solid in the field and limit our walks from pitching staff,” Nimmo said. “That will keep you in all games. We have struggled to score the last couple years but mainly due to being over matched because of youth.”
As for the season outlook, Nimmo hopes to continue the program’s development and have the Pirates once again competing in deep, postseason runs.
“We are coming off a nice summer and fall season,” Nimmo said. “Our hope is to continue that this spring. We always want to compete for conference, district titles and state playoffs. It’s been a couple years of building back to that point. My goal — you will make mistakes in this game and lose games because of it. If we don’t make those mistakes time and time again the other team will have to beat us. Fail early, but learn for the end of the season.”
Branson opens its season March 20 at home against Hillcrest.
