2010 Diamond Dogs Preview
2-28-10
Article By: Richard White
Photos By: Brian Vaughn
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Expectations running high for GHS baseball team
Regarding fall workouts, Gardner tries not to push things too much, especially since several of his players also compete in football and basketball. "We keep it pretty loose," he said. "Usually about the first three weeks of school we won't do anything. Really, I try to go as long as I can, but the kids start wearing you out about [hitting and practice]. We also do most of our conditioning in the fall. I tell them that when we get to spring it needs to be about baseball, and you should already be in shape. We use the fall to try and hone skills, and maybe try people in new positions."
"We beefed the schedule up a little more to get us ready for the end of the year. We won the conference last year, even though we weren't supposed too. We knew we had quality kids coming up, but we just weren't sure how they would do in a varsity game. We only lost four seniors last year. Two were fulltime players and the other two were part-time. So we should be good this year. We'll probably be picked at the top of the conference, since we won it last year and we've got most of our people back.
[Junior] Aaron Carter is real steady. [Junior] Tony Sandifer is a relief pitcher. Brennan Rogers has really come on too. He's a senior and hasn't pitched a lot, but his velocity has gone up. We're also looking at Austin Suter, a sophomore who has thrown the ball real well. He's left-handed and we think he's going to be able to help us. What we try to do with all of our non-conference games is see who is going to be the conference starters. Whoever throws the best in the non-conference games against the tougher teams is going to get the conference starts. As long as they are rolling along we'll keep them, but if not, we have enough depth that we can go in another direction.
Gardner says he doesn't have a rigid pitching philosophy, but allows his hurlers to make the most of their particular skills. "We just match up a pitcher's strength and a hitter's weakness." The coach also allows his battery to call most of their own pitches. "We suggest pitches, but we don't call every single pitch. Our catcher does a great job. He's a real smart kid and he pays attention to what the hitter's doing."
Regarding his backstop, Coach Gardner had high praise for senior Ethan Adams. "He was honorable mention all-conference last year. He's a fantastic kid who's going to the University of the Ozarks next year. He's a real good student. From the 10th grade until now he's had the most improvement of probably anybody in the program, due to his hard work. He's also very coachable and he does a great job of throwing runners out. He has a lot of power at the plate and he's a real good team leader.
At first base we've got Brennan Rogers back who has signed with UAFS in the early signing period. He hit six homeruns last year with 31 RBIs. He was all-conference and I thought he should have been all-state. He's very improved defensively and he can play some third [base] too. I've got about four kids who might play second or third, depending on the situation. Hunter Staton is a senior and he's the leading guy at second right now. He's definitely going to be in there somewhere, because he's in the top three or four in our lineup. He's worked his butt off at second and he's looked a lot better. Justin Sunde is a sophomore who definitely has got to be in the lineup somewhere because he's out leadoff guy. We're just trying to figure out where they belong defensively. Bishop Bass is a junior and Matt Turner is a junior, and all four of those guys will play either second or third. Matt Turner is probably the best defensively at third.
At shortstop Greenwood has returning starter Tony Sandifer, who was all-conference last season as a sophomore and was all-conference honorable mention as a freshman. "He's started every game at short that he's been available since the fourth game of his freshman year," said Gardner. "He has a great throwing arm. He's a smart player and knows what to do with the ball all the time. He's the best shortstop in the conference.
Compared to other 5A schools and [even] most 7A schools, we get a lot of community support," said the coach. "We raise a lot of money and the community is real good. The Boys and Girls Club does stuff to help. It's a good deal. People love to support a winning program, especially in Greenwood. It's just a good place to coach. It's fun and the kids are responsive to what you do. It makes it enjoyable. I teach class and I love [American] history, but I can't wait to get out here every day. They don't mind practicing. The kids really think we have a chance to push for a state championship. Of course, the thing is, you've got to be good and you've got to be lucky. One or the other [alone] won't get it."
By Richard White
A Southeast Missouri native, Coach Gardner admitted that Greenwood's winning tradition and strong local support for baseball were among the things that attracted him to the job. "The youth leagues here are real good, so every class has a decent amount of kids that are going to be better than average. We [also] play extended high school [baseball] in the summer. We play wood bat doubleheaders and it really makes you work on some of the fundamentals of the game and gives us a chance to play everybody." Gardner added that the summer baseball rules allow for free substitutions, which is a big advantage to a coach, allowing him to insert players at will and to try them at various positions and different spots in the batting order. "It allows everybody to play and helps us to get a look at them," he said. "It allows us to know what they can do even before we get to off-season stuff in the fall."
"We have 35 kids on the team this year in grades nine through 12," said the coach. "This year we don't have a separate freshmen team. Everybody is in there together. We're going to play some [junior varsity] games and against the big schools we'll play some sophomore games." Gardner's staff includes assistant coach Phil Watts and three registered volunteers - Kyle Pippen, Brad Gilliam, and Wil Grandstaff - all former GHS players. Despite having seven returning starters, the GHS roster lists only five seniors and seven juniors, along with 12 sophomores, and 11 freshmen.
"We're a real good offensive team. We scored a lot of runs last year," said the coach, adding that everyone in the lineup last season batted over .300. "We lost some good offensive production, but we also have most of our offense back and we've had some younger people step up and help out. We're a gap hitting team. We hit a ton of doubles last year and a lot of those kids are back. We [also] have some power. I would say that out of the nine people in the lineup on a given day, six of them could probably hit a homerun. So we do have power and we have some speed too. We have a pretty good combination. We have two kids that stole 58 bases last summer together and got thrown out [just] once. We've got five or six kids that can steal a base. It just depends on the situation. But probably one through six, we're going to hit the ball to the fence or over the fence, so we don't have to manufacture a lot [of runs]. We will use the steal more than we use other things. I prefer stealing over bunting, because I like to get something without giving something up. Last year I think we had only five or six sacrifice bunts."
Confident in his offense, the coach says the pitching staff is still a work in progress, much like last season. "We're still working on it, the same way it was last year," said Gardner. "We weren't sure going into the season, but our pitchers performed really well, and we're hoping the same thing happens this year. We had two guys that threw really well last summer and pitched good this [past] fall, and that's Garrett Sandifer and Chris Caudle. Garrett's a lefthander and Chris is right-handed. Both have good velocity. The only time they get into trouble is when they get themselves into trouble. We've never really seen them get hit hard. When we throw the ball over the plate, we can beat anybody.
Our defense is real strong up the middle," the coach continued. "We have our centerfielder back, our shortstop back, and our catcher back, and that always bodes well for your defense. We're still working on second [base] a little bit. Second and third are the two places where we're trying to see who is going to perform best. Early in the season we're going to let them play it out and see who wants it.
In the outfield, the coach will mix and match several players. "Hunter Staton plays left some, and Wil Caster also plays some left field. [Caster] is a junior and he's a left-handed hitter. He's really improved a lot in the last year and a half. Aaron Carter will be the best centerfielder in our conference and one of the best in the state. He can really go get it. He's a super athlete and he plays shortstop when Tony [Sandifer] is pitching for us. [Senior] Aaron Moody is another outfielder that will be playing for us. He's improved a lot in the last year, and also Brandon Brewer, who's in basketball right now, will be a starting outfielder too. We've got about four or five people who have really come on, and [sophomore] Austin Suter is going to be a super player [too]. He's going to help us some this year. [Sophomore] Hayden Smith will also compete for playing time at second. He can also play outfield. David Cox is a 10th grader who is coming on and doing a lot better in the outfield.
"I think Harrison will be good again this year and Alma will put together a good team," said Gardner. "Everybody graduated so many people last year, except for us. Harrison won a state championship and got beat in the finals two years in a row. I would say they would probably be the main competition." Reflecting on the conference schedule, the coach explained, "We just usually play doubleheaders - we play seven doubleheaders. This year we play four away and three here. This year our first ten or eleven games are away because we have two tournaments mixed in. We play a lot of 7A teams. We play Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Van Buren. We have tournaments in Springfield, Missouri and Edmond, Oklahoma, so it will be tough competition all around." Greenwood opens the season with a benefit game this coming Tuesday, March 2nd, at Rogers Heritage, with the official regular season opener on Friday at Springdale, including both junior varsity and varsity games.
