Page 18 - RVO Diamond Roundup March 2017

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SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2017 | RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE BASEBALL & SOFTBALL REVIEW
MAYFLOWER EAGLES
Former assistant to lead experienced Eagles this season
PHOTOS BY MARK BUFFALO/RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION
Mayflower senior Bailey Butler takes a throw from the catcher.
BY MARK BUFFALO
STAFF WRITER
The Mayflower Eagles have a veteran team with a new head coach this season.
Coty Storms, who was previously an assistant to Joe Allbritton, was promoted to head coach after Allbritton left Mayflower to become an assistant principal at Bryant
High School.
“This is my fifth year,” said Storms, who
was an assistant coach when the Eagles won the 2015 Class 3A state title.
A year ago, the Eagles finished 20-14. They beat Fordyce 2-1 in 11 innings in the first round of the state tournament before falling to Booneville 15-5 in the second round.
“We used more pitching that what we would have liked to,” Storms said of the first- round win.
Expectations are high for the Eagles.
“We tell our guys to take it one game at a time,” Storms said. “Our goals are to win the conference, district [tournament] and win a regional and make it to the state tournament and kinda see what happens. We want to win a state championship, and that is our ultimate goal, but let’s get to the state tournament and go from there.
“Once you get there, anything can hap- pen. We want to be playing our best baseball in May.”
This year’s team returns eight starters from a year ago. They include junior catcher/ pitcher Ethan York, junior third baseman Sean Harris, junior shortstop Brady Wilcox,
Conference: 3A-5
Coach: Coty Storms
Assistant coaches: John Atkins,
Scott Gracie
2016 record: 20-14
Mascot: Eagles
Returning starters: Ethan York, Sean
Harris, Brady Wilcox, Paxton Templeton, Thomas Walter, Bailey Butler, Corey Herris and Davis Gafney
MAYFLOWER BASEBALL
MARCH 23-25 .....@MAYFLOWER TOURNAMENT MARCH 28 .. @CENTRAL ARKANSAS CHRISTIAN MARCH 31 ..................... @PULASKI ACADEMY APRIL 4 ...........................PULASKI ROBINSON APRIL 7 .................................. @GREENBRIER APRIL 11 .......................................... ESTEM* APRIL 12 .....................@CONWAY ST. JOSEPH APRIL 14 .................. LITTLE ROCK CHRISTIAN APRIL 18 ........................................BAUXITE* APRIL 21 .................................... BISMARCK* APRIL 22 ........................................@VILONIA APRIL 25 ..........................................LONOKE
*DENOTES CONFERENCE GAMES
senior shortstop Paxton Templeton, junior second baseman Thomas Walter, senior first baseman Bailey Butler, senior center fielder Corey Herrin and senior left fielder Davis Gafney. Sophomore Dalton Muse started the season at third base because of an injury to Harris and will end up playing right field, Storms said.
Storms said Wilcox and Templeton will switch when the other is not pitching.
All of the starters were on the state- championship team with the exception of Muse. “Brady Wilcox pitched the state semifinal game that year as a freshman and won it,”
Storms said.
Wilcox is the team’s best returning hitter.
Storms said he hit over .400 in 2016.
The best power hitters for the Eagles in-
clude Butler, Harris and Wilcox.
“These are our middle-of-the-order guys
who drive in runs,” Storms said.
Storms said Herrin can track anything
down from his center-field position.
“He also bats leadoff and is a threat to take
the extra base,” Storms said.
Mayflower sophomore Dalton Muse fields a ground ball during preseason drills.
Storms said his outfielders have the best arms defensively.
“They are chomping at the opportunity to throw runners out,” he said.
The Eagles return their top three pitchers, including Templeton, Wilcox and Walter.
“All are improved and bring a new dimen- sion,” the coach said.
As far as pitching, the Arkansas Activities Association has implemented a pitch-count rule for baseball pitchers this season. There are limits on how many pitches a player can make and how often he can make them. The most a player can pitch in one game, with rest, is 110.
“I’m not a huge fan of it, but it doesn’t really affect us that much because we’re a complete-throwing game team,” Storms said. “We like our pitchers to throw complete games; then we give them six or seven days’ rest, regardless. So for us, if a kid comes out and throws 80 to 100 pitches, he’s going to get six days.”
Storms said his squad has about 15 pitchers this year.
“Eight of those could be varsity throwers for us,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of it. It doesn’t affect us that much. I think it’s going to end up being more of a pain because I think guys will try to bring them back too soon, looking at that three days’ rest when the kid really needs five days’ rest.”