By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It’s been quite a run for the Gainesville baseball team the last three seasons. The Bulldogs have combined to go 63-22 with three-straight district titles and a fourth-place finish in Class 2.
Last spring, Gainesville finished 21-5 and lost 3-2 to Iberia in the Class 2 sectionals. Seven of those wins were by at least 10 runs.
“We had a really good offensive year,” head coach Blake Hobbs said. “I felt like when we stepped into a game people knew about our offense. They knew that they had to bring their best game to play us.”
The Bulldogs graduated six players from that team–and only returns three starters–but Hobbs doesn’t see this being a rebuilding year with the new roster possessing some desirable traits.
“We do have a lot of new faces to the varsity level, but we’re bringing in a lot of talent,” he said. “We’re going to be senior and sophomore heavy with just two juniors but this year I feel like I can really manage the game differently. We’re going to be able to show up and compete on a daily basis, I believe. I have three arms I really trust as starters and five or six that I could really use in relief. I think this year’s group of boys won’t hit home runs but we’ll be a base-hit hitting team and we’re going to make the routine play. If we do that, make the routine play consistently, I really feel we’ll be in every ballgame. We’re going to pitch and hit well enough to keep us competitive.”
The three returning starters are senior Andrew Hambelton (2nd team All-Summit Conference), junior Hunter Luna (honorable mention All-State, 1st team All-Conference) and sophomore Grant Leeker (2nd team All-Conference).
Hambelton will switch to a new role this year and play behind the plate when he’s not pitching. Hobbs said he’s going to college to pitch, with a live arm and an upper 80’s fastball, but he’s talented enough to play catcher at the next level, too. He was third on the team with 27.2 innings pitched last season and he struck out 47 with an ERA of 3.54. Offensively he was a .316 hitter with seven doubles and two home runs.
Luna figures to start the season as the team’s No. 1 starter on the mound. He threw a team-high 45.2 innings and went 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA and 56 strikeouts. He’ll hold down third base (and could play shortstop and second) when he’s not pitching, and like Hambelton is another middle-of-the-order bat. Luna batted .442 with seven doubles and a homer.
And Leeker started at first base last season and will likely be the team’s No. 2 or 3 starting pitcher. He threw 20.1 innings with a 4-0 record and a 1.72 ERA and struck out 26. He batted .299 with four doubles and he combined to drive in and score 46 runs; he also led the team with 22 walks.
The Bulldogs will add three sophomores to the infield mix in Owen Donley, Braden Miller and Dawson Hewett.
“Last year they probably could have all three been varsity players, we just had seniors in their way,” Hobbs said. “They’re fast, they’re athletic and they have good arms behind them and a good brain for baseball.”
The outfield figures to be senior heavy with Brady Myers in right, Jarett Hogan and Nathan Kiger competing in center and Hogan and Kannon Morrison in the mix in left. Hogan appeared in 19 games and was a .289 hitter who scored 11 runs and stole 10 bases, and Morrison played in 13 games and batted .278 with five RBI’s and five runs.
“This is finally the year they get to shine,” Hobbs said. “They’ve always had someone in their way with three all-conference players last year in the outfield. It was tough to see playing time but they’ve got good brains on them and good arms, they’re athletic and they’re just good overall players.”
Junior C.J. Powell and sophomore Cutter Morrison should also be contributors, with Powell likely closing some games out on the mound. And Morrison is another heady player who could see time on the infield.
“If we had a designated closer, I would consider (Powell) as that,” Hobbs said. “He’s got a good fastball, good breaking ball and he grew as a pitcher this fall for us. He fills that description of what a closer should be; he’s got a gnarly mullet, he’s a good athlete and he’s got that bulldog mentality. Cutter is like a vacuum at third base and he’ll see a lot of varsity time and can also go behind the plate.”
Hobbs said the expectation this spring is simple: keep the winning culture up. He still remembers one of last year’s seniors, Daden House, telling the rest of the players after the season-ending loss that “now it’s your turn to keep it going.”
“And that’s what we honestly plan to do,” Hobbs said. “If I compare this team to any I’ve coached, it would be like my first year’s group, just a little younger and a little fresh to the varsity scene. But we’ll be a group that is going to go out and compete. The expectation is definitely to win. The community is supporting us, they’re behind us. We’ve got a group of people that’s putting a new field in for the baseball team, and putting a lot of money into that. We’re shooting for our fourth district championship in a row and for that group of freshmen to walk into their senior year chasing another district title as they go, that’s a big expectation and a big goal for them to have.”
Hobbs said the team’s new field could be ready by the middle of the spring, but there’s still a lot of work remaining. The team is scheduled to play seven of its final nine games at home.
Gainesville will participate in the Clever jamboree on March 8 and opens the regular season March 15 at Cabool. Sparta, a newcomer to the conference, is an addition to the schedule. The Bulldogs will also play in tournaments at Clever and Hartville.
“You never know what you’re going to get with high school boys and baseball, especially, but I do see us being a competitive group and I’m pretty ecstatic,” Hobbs said. “It’s probably the most excited I’ve been going into a season. There are a lot of exciting things coming our way.”
