By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Mansfield baseball enjoyed a successful season in 2024.
The Lions finished with a 22-4 record, falling to Bakersfield in the district final.
For head coach Joe Garrison, a runner-up district finish was not how the season was supposed to end.
“It was discouraging to end such a great year early with a tough loss in the district championship,” Garrison said. “We felt we were a strong enough team however it just wasn’t meant to be. This should really drive us to perform better when it counts the most in the upcoming spring.”
Heading into his eighth season at the helm, Garrison will look to field replacements for a talented class of graduating seniors, including a trio of all-state honorees.
“We graduated seven seniors from last year, and five or six of them had started for us regularly,” Coach Garrison said. “Their experience and leadership as a group will be missed tremendously.”
While it’s never easy replacing talented graduates, Mansfield does have a fourth all-state honoree returning in Charlie Grubbs.
Grubbs, a senior pitcher, finished with a 6-1 record and a 1.09 earned run average last season.
“Charlie had a really good year on the mound,” Garrison said. “Charlie is a left-handed pitcher that commands the zone with a very competitive nature that drives him to be our best. Charlie is one of the hardest workers on the team.”
Grubbs will be joined by classmates Blake Henry and Braden Tate.
“Blake is a tremendous athlete and one of the most physically strong players I have coached,” Garrison said. “He also has a great work ethic and hates to lose. His ability to hit for power and get on base will determine many games for us this spring.
“Braden is a level-headed tough and gritty player that coaches love to have on their team. He is a great catcher; however we may use him a lot on the infield this year. His toughness at the plate has already produced walk-off hits, and we will rely on his grit.”
All-conference junior Bryston Kingery rounds out Mansfield’s returning starters.
“Bryston had a good sophomore year starting at second base and pitching 21.1 innings with a 2-1 record,” Garrison said. “He hit .282 last spring with an on-base percentage of .402. We will rely on him even more as a junior and, defensively, he will move over to shortstop, as well as carrying a bigger load on the mound.”
Garrison also expects a host of varsity newcomers to step in and compete for playing time in junior John Roberts, senior Riley Pierson, sophomore Aiden Garrison, sophomore Cole Whorton, sophomore Brayden Stuart, sophomore Fisher Croney, freshman Parker Moody and freshman Easton Thompson.
Garrison will look to his returning corps to lead the team and set an example for the younger players to follow.
“Overall, we are looking for our seniors to be our team leaders,” Garrison said. “We ask them every day to give their best to help the team win. Their selfless, hard work and dedication to winning will set the example for the entire team to follow. It’s not about one individual, it’s about the team first. With that in our minds each day, we will contend”
On the mound, Coach Garrison expects big things from the Lions’ young pitching staff, provided it can remain injury free during the season.
“A key factor to our pitching staff this spring will be staying healthy,” Coach Garrison said. “Charlie Grubbs is the ace of our staff, but had some arm trouble this fall which prevented him from performing like he did for us last spring. Brayden Stuart led the team in innings pitched (25.1) this fall with a 2-1 record (1.11 ERA). Bryston Kingery also had nearly 20 IP and was 2-1 (2.17 ERA) as well. Fisher Croney had 18.0 IP and a 3.88 ERA. Aiden Garrison was 1-1 with an ERA of 2.90 this fall. Overall, the staff was 7-7 with a Team ERA of 2.69. That was pretty impressive considering how young they are.”
While pitching will be a team strength heading into the spring campaign, Coach Garrison knows Mansfield’s offensive production must develop quickly in order to relieve some of the pressure that will be placed on his young staff.
“Our staff was able to keep most of our games within reach,” Coach Garrison said. “It was our lack of offensive production and several careless errors by our defense that really cost us. This time last year we pretty well knew all our key roles and who we were going to look to in tough times. Now we still have several improvements to make across the board and some questions unanswered. As the season progresses, we believe we have what it takes to be a contender.”
Mansfield opens its season March 21 at home against Willow Springs.
