By Chris Parker
Blue Eye baseball finished 6-11 last spring. The Bulldogs improved on that record to an 11-6 mark in the fall. They will look to keep that momentum up this spring looking for the program’s first winning spring season since 2015.
“I expect this spring to be the best spring we have had in quite some time,” Blue Eye head coach Dustin Ewers said. “We have the pieces to be a successful ball club, but we have to continue to work to get better for each other.”
Six starters return from last spring. Seniors Logan Isbell (shortstop/pitcher) and Landon Murray (first base) will be team leaders.
“Logan is our anchor on the infield and contributes on the mound. Logan is also a guy that is at the top of our lineup and does a good job producing for us offensively,” Ewers said. “Landon Murray is a good defensive first baseman. Landon is a middle of the order kind of guy with good hands. Both are extremely important to the success of our program as is everyone who wears the jersey.”
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The pitching rotation will feature Trey Lippe (junior), Brady Isbell (sophomore), Colton Spinning (junior) and Logan Isbell.
“Trey has good velocity and a good curveball. When he hits his spots, he his tough to hit. Brady has the best velocity on the team and is developing into one of the better pitchers we have had in while. Colton does a great job of throwing strikes and can throw anyone of his three pitches for a strike in any given count. Logan has pitched in some big games for us the past couple of years and does a good job competing for us on the mound,” Ewers said.
Brady Isbell and Cayden Murray (junior) will be behind the plate at catcher.
Lippe (third base), Spinning (shortstop/third base/second base), Logan Isbell (shortstop), Cayden Murray (third base/second base) and Landon Murray (first base) will be the lineup around the infield.
Beau Brown (freshman), Braden Johnson (junior), Riley Redus (sophomore) and Kaden Jones (sophomore) will compete for time in the outfield.
“This year our team strength will be toughness and competitiveness. The team understands what it takes to win. We will continue to focus on the fundamentals of the game,” Ewers said. “We as team need to be more consistent. Throughout this fall we were a streaky team. Being consistent with our effort and focus will lead to ways for us to win.”
Blue Eye opens the regular season on Mar. 17 at Clever.
“I want our team’s identity to be an unselfish hard-nosed baseball team,” Ewers said. “I want us to compete for each other and not for individual status.”
