The Wolverine baseball team game out ready to play against Smoky Mountain Wednesday, March 14, winning 8-2.
“We came a long way yesterday,” said baseball head coach Ty Stott. “We’ve really been working hard at practice and everything seemed to click a bit better. I hope it keeps up and we keep improving – there were definitely some good signs.”
The winning pitcher on the evening was Dylan Turner who pitched five innings getting three strike outs, no walks and giving up five hits. Alec Philpott came in for the last two innings.
The biggest hitters for the game were Roberto Taft, who ended the night 2-3 with a homerun, and Joel Booker, who was 3-4 with a homerun. Tyler Ridings, Jordan Brown and Philpott all had two hits.
Stott said these runs were all against a left-handed pitcher, which the team will likely face again in their home game against Mountain Heritage this Friday.
“If we take the right approach like you should against a left-handed pitcher I think we’ll fair well,” Stott said. “Yesterday we were really encouraging them to wait back and hit the ball out into the field. If they do that against a left-handed pitcher we won’t have any problems.”
Stott said he’s happy to see his team finding a better groove as they use the early part of the season to shift people into various positions. Wes Brady, who got hurt in the Asheville Christian game, is out for about another week, which caused movement in the infield to cover him at third base. But Stott said his guys are working together as if they’ve all played together for years.
“Our defense is also improving as we move some people around and see where people truly play their best ball,” he said.
The Wolverines face off against Mountain Heritage today, Friday, March 16 at home. The Junior Varsity’s game kicks off at 4 p.m. with the varsity game following.