By Chris Parker
Southwest baseball will be focused on doing the little things right this season with four full-time starters and six lettermen returning from last season’s 14-win team.
“Our identity this year is going to be small ball and speed,” Southwest head coach Derek Mann said. “We don’t have any guys that are going to blast it out of the park, but we do have guys that can get on base and run. We look to cause chaos on the field and use it to our advantage.”
On the mound, look for Logan Gregory (junior), Wyatt Taft (junior), Tristan Morgan (senior) and Aiden Barnett (sophomore) to be key pitchers.
“Logan has the best changeup on the team and when he is throwing it well it is unhittable,” Mann said. “Wyatt has a very good slider, and his arm angle helps it move very well. Tristan’s curveball Is his best and favorite pitch. Barnett has a good fastball that he can spot anywhere.”
Tyler Meek will be behind the plate catching in his senior season.
Dom Sierra (freshman first base), Austin Tull (sophomore second base), Gregory (shortstop), Morgan (third base) and Jason Foster (sophomore utility) will be around the infield.
Barnett (left field), Taft (centerfield), RJ Cutberth (sophomore right field) and Ayden Flippo (freshman fourth outfielder) will be in the outfield.
Mann expects Gregory and Meek to be key leaders.
“Logan Gregory and Tyler Meek are our lead by example players,” Mann said. “They go out and work hard every day and guys look to them because they are always doing the right thing on the field. Tyler is also a verbal leader as he has had to become one being our catcher. He picks the guys up in the dugout and makes sure we stay positive and locked in.”
Pitching and defense will be hallmarks for this season’s team.
“Our strengths will be pitching and defense,” Mann said. “We have some guys returning that have thrown some big innings for us as well as some talented younger arms as well. Our catcher knows our pitchers and is able to call good games for us. Our defense is pretty solid all around as we don’t have a hole on the defensive side.”
Developing consistency at the plate will be something the Trojans work on through the year.
“Our hitting will need to improve for us and more importantly the timely hitting or the consistency on the offensive side,” Mann said. “We are a younger team so getting use to the talent of arms we will see on a nightly basis will be something we will need to improve on.”
Southwest opens the season on Mar. 21 at Monett.
“We have a lot of games this spring and a lot of talent,” Mann said. “I expect us to compete in every game this spring and be playing our best ball at the end of the year.”
