By Chris Parker
Crocker baseball has 16 players with varsity experience this season coming off a 13-6 spring season and a 14-6 fall season.
Seniors Jackson Burney and Landon Pierce will lead the pitching staff.
“Our pitching staff will be led by Jackson Burney,” Crocker head coach Alex Shelton said. “Jackson is a true competitor on the mound. He will give you his very best every time he is out there and will compete his tail off for the team. The team plays better when Jackson is on the mound because they believe in him and have confidence, knowing how hard he is working for them. He is a guy that can go out there and win you a ball game. He throws strikes, works at an excellent pace, mixes well, and flat out competes.”
“Landon is also very capable of dominating a game and has shown in the past that he has the ability to pitch big games and pitch well in them,” Shelton said. “Landon has worked really hard on improving his pace and rhythm and that has helped him be even more successful.”
Junior Tripp Caldwell will also throw a good amount of innings.
“Tripp Caldwell has very nasty stuff and will be asked to step up and pitch even bigger games this spring,” Shelton said. “Tripp throws very hard and has good off-speed as well. When he gets locked in, he is as tough as anyone in the league.”
Freshman Drew Freesmeier got a chance at varsity innings this fall and will do the same this spring.
“Freshman Drew Freesmeier got a little taste of varsity action on the mound this fall and did very well,” Shelton said. “He fills up the strike zone and gives you a chance to win. Drew will continue to develop his pitching as his body continues to mature and he keeps getting stronger. We are expecting him to give us more innings on varsity this spring.”
Logan Connell (junior), Noah Harrison (sophomore), Cash Lawson (freshman) and Easton Caldwell (freshman) among others will also be in the mix for time on the mound.
“These guys got the bulk of their innings on JV this fall, but will likely be asked to contribute some innings on the varsity this spring as well,” Shelton said. “Overall, we have a lot of arms that we plan on using in different spots this season. You can never have enough pitching, and this is definitely true this spring with the schedule we have in place.”
The job of catching the pitching staff will fall to Freesmeier and Caldwell primarily. Landon Smith and Cash Lawson saw a bulk of the JV catching duties in the fall.
Landon Pierce (third base), Jackson Burney (shortstop), Logan Connell (second base), Tripp Caldwell (shortstop/third base) and Cash Lawson (third base/second base) were described as incumbents on the infield with Noah Harrison (shortstop/third base/second base), Easton Caldwell (second base/shortstop) and Wyatt Sherrell (second base) all in the mix for time on the infield.
Gavin Strutton (left field), Keegan Holder (centerfield) and Jesse Goldsmith (right field) have the inside track to starting in the outfield with Cashton Murphy also looking for time.
“Defensively, we understand that making the routine plays is a big deal. We pride ourselves in this and will strive to be fundamentally sound on defense. This not only helps our pitching staff keep their pitch totals down, but also allows you to be competitive day in and day out. You might have some nights where runs are hard to come by and the other team’s pitcher is dealing, but we can always bring our defense, as this is something we can control. Our goal each night will be two errors or less. If we can handle this, we should give ourselves a chance to win most nights,” Shelton said. “Offensively, we will work hard to find ways on base. We understand that getting on base is the key to scoring runs and we will strive to get on base by any means necessary. Once we have runners on, we will look to be aggressive on the bases and opportunistic where situations allow. Manufacturing runs will be the name of the game, and we will look to capitalize with runners on base, especially with runners on third and less than two outs. We expect these to be automatic runs for our team. I would describe our offense as scrappy in nature and one that looks to grind the other team down.”
Crocker opens the season Mar. 20 at home against Cabool.
“We are expecting a big spring this year as we continue to build the success of the program. We will embody the 4 principles/expectations that our program is built on: Team first, individual second, hustle and hard work, positive attitudes and strive to get better every day,” Shelton said. “We believe that if you meet these expectations every single day that success will be there for the taking. We would like to have a shot at winning both a conference and district championships this spring and feel like we have a team capable of doing so.”
