Head Coach Chad Mercado and his 2022 Diamond ‘Dogs are feverishly preparing for their official season opener next Monday at Springdale Har-Ber after hosting this Thursday’s scheduled benefit game against the Grizzlies of Fort Smith Northside. But that contest is in jeopardy due to a winter storm moving through the area and the cancellation of school. Yet, that’s just the sort of uncertainty facing Mercado and his staff and players this pre-season.
There is a peculiar mixture of ambiguity and excitement surrounding the GHS baseball program in Mercado’s second full year at the helm. He was hired in the spring of 2019, but his first season was cut short by the Covid pandemic that wiped out all prep spring sports in 2020. Losing a year of playing experience and developmental time was a tough blow to all high school athletes and their coaches.
But the 2021 Bulldogs fared pretty well, finishing 10-4 in the 5A West in a three-way tie for second place behind eventual state champion Van Buren. Unfortunately, the tiebreaker wasn’t kind and the Diamond ‘Dogs entered the playoffs as the #4 seed. Still, they reached the state semi-finals before losing 6-2 to the Pointers, who defeated Jonesboro for the title.
However, many of those starters have graduated, leaving a lot of open positions to be filled by younger players hungry for playing time. Mercado and his staff must also find and develop pitchers to replace 115 innings turned in by last year’s departed hurlers. That’s a lot of innings, about 16 games worth at seven innings per contest.
And while they are faced with replacing at least five starting position players, they are not without options among a large group of talented and eager replacements, several of which do have significant varsity experience. “In many ways we’ve got a lot of good experience coming back. I’m excited to see how that translates,” said the coach.
The Diamond ‘Dogs have 36 players listed on their roster to be divided into three groups – varsity, junior varsity, and a sophomore-freshmen squad, with some necessary overlap. That includes seven seniors, nine juniors, nine sophomores, and 11 ninth graders. That’s a good combination of youth and experience, and according to Mercado, they aren’t without skills.
The 2021 Bulldogs were 20-11 overall, 10-4 in conference play, tying Greenbrier and Russellville for second place before the tiebreaker made them the #4 playoff seed from the 5A West. They took Van Buren to the wire in the semi-finals, with the game tied at 2-2 in the sixth inning before giving up four late runs. According to Coach Mercado and any reasonable observer, it was a successful season.
“Last year was a whole lot of growth,” he said. “It was my first year and we had a really awesome group of seniors. I wish I had 20 or 30 more games with those guys. Because of Covid, we missed that whole year of experience. I wish we would’ve had that [lost] season, but I thought those guys handled it great. I was super proud of those guys. They played their guts out. We had eight seniors and at least five of those guys were [usually] on the field for us last year. We have a lot of guys to replace this year [for] leadership and playing time, and especially innings on the mound.”
The operative word in the pre-season has been “competition” says Mercado. “The big thing with this group is they are highly competitive to get on the field right now. We’ve got a lot of similar guys and it’s going to be extremely competitive. Guys know they’ve got to work hard in practice and in the games, because everybody wants to play, and that’s a good thing.
“There’s still a lot of open positions right now. We have a handful of seniors we’re really going to count on and that’s Bryce Morgan in the infield, Dylan Strozier behind the plate, and Luke Brewer in the outfield. Those guys will definitely be in the lineup somewhere, and then it’s about getting the pieces around those guys and figuring out the best matchups. My job is figuring out who’s going to compete offensively and who can [play defense] and getting the right mix.”
As always happens, the Diamond ‘Dogs are still waiting on several basketball players currently battling for a state tournament berth, which could delay their arrival by at least a few more days. They will need a little time to get in baseball shape, but they are expected to have a big impact when they do, especially on the pitching side.
“I’ve got three guys in basketball who have varsity starts under their belts,” said Mercado of juniors Aiden Kennon, Hunter Houston, and senior Jay Wright. A couple of youngsters will also figure prominently in Mercado’s pitching plans.
“Austin Mitchell was a freshman who got a lot of innings last year in a reliever role, and he’ll get innings right out of the gate as a starter. Aiden Sockey didn’t pitch [much] last year because he spent a lot of time behind the plate. But he’s actually done a really good job for us on the mound and we’re going to look to him right away for some innings. Jake Baxley is a senior who will get a chance early. Then we have a mix of sophomores and another senior who will all get chances right away. We’ll see what those guys do.”
As for Mercado’s expectations for his pitching staff, he said, “We want to have four guys who can start and give us at least five innings. Hopefully, by the time conference play rolls around we’ll have two guys who can take the ball and give us seven innings apiece in those doubleheaders. Of course, we’ll have to figure out who will pitch in relief and who will pitch in the [non-conference] games on Thursday and Friday.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that we like. They’ve just got to get out there on the mound and earn a spot. Those guys should be really hungry to get out there and show [they’re ready]. I’m excited to see who does it,” added the coach.
“We purposely scheduled a high volume of games up front, because we knew we were going to have to season those guys before March 15th, so there will be a lot of opportunities on the mound right out of the gate. We’ve got eight varsity games before conference starts and junior varsity games with all of those. We’re going to get a lot of information before our first conference game against Russellville.
“Right now we’re in the prove it stage,” he continued. “I have high hopes for these guys, but it’s going to be a big growth year. We’re replacing 115 innings, and that’s a significant amount of innings. But we’re excited about the guys we have. They are throwing strikes and holding runners and doing a lot of good things that will help us compete and win ball games. But it’s definitely going to be a collective team effort.”
Not only are the Bulldogs looking to rebuild their pitching staff, but they have several defensive positions to fill as well, but the cupboard is not bare. “We’re in really good shape,” said the coach with confidence. “We’ve got really good competition because we’ve got talented guys. It’s all about finding that [right] mix. The last couple weeks we’ve worked hard to implement competition in practice, and they’ve really responded. So I’m really excited. We’ve grown a lot, especially on the offensive side. There are some guys who really worked hard in the fall to develop and increase their talent.” As a by-product of that competition, Mercado is hoping for greater depth as well.
But when it comes to position players, the anchor of the Diamond ‘Dogs is senior catcher Dylan Strozier, a returning starter. “Dylan has been awesome. He’s really stepped up as a leader on the team. He’s worked hard to improve his offense. He’s always been a good defensive catcher. He’s a standout behind the plate. He calls his own game and handles the pitching staff. He can receive it and block it.”
Strozier is also a terror to base stealers, according to his coach. “Our pitchers are trained up. All they’ve got to do is give him a chance and he’s going to throw that guy out. We’re confident in his ability. He works at it. He’s put in a lot of time and repetition. We pretty much shut down the run game last year with him behind the plate. Other teams know he is back there. Dylan has started 30 games back there.”
Junior Baylor Hossley and sophomore Aiden Sockey will serve as backups at catcher and see action behind the plate in junior varsity games. Sockey is also being looked at favorably for other positions like first base. “Both of those guys are working at it every day,” said their coach.
Going around the horn, Mercado revealed that first base is wide open. “We’ve got four to five guys over there any given day. It’s typically an offensive position on the field. We’re going to give guys looks right away and see who takes it.” Right now, three players are seeing significant work at the position - Aiden Sockey, Weston Pschier, and Brady Pettigrew. Sockey and Pettigrew are sophomores, while Pschier is a junior.
Senior Bryce Morgan will be manning second base. “He was our shortstop last year but had some arm trouble, so we’re going to start him at second,” explained the coach. “We’ll have him toward the top of the [batting] order somewhere. He can handle the bat and steal bases.”
Third base is also wide open this pre-season. “It depends [somewhat] on who wins the first base battle,” said Mercado. “We’ve got Pschier and Braden Skaggs over there. Braden is a sophomore who can hit, and we expect to have him somewhere near the top of the order. We’re just trying to figure out his best place defensively. We’ve got a few guys who will need to be versatile, and he’s one of those guys.
“Harrison Adams has gotten the most work there,” said Mercado when asked about the all-important shortstop position. “Harrison has done a real good job on the routine plays and he’s another guy we’re looking to for some good offense. He just knows how to play baseball and he’s a guy we’re always going to be excited about.” Also, Braden Skaggs could log some time at short, said his coach.
As for left field, [senior] “Luke Brewer is coming back and he’s done a really good job. He got about 25 or 30 starts last year and he got better and better as the season when on. He competes really hard and does a good job fielding his position. He’s going to give us a real competitive at bat. We look for him to take another step [forward] this spring.
“Austin Mitchell is penciled into centerfield any time he is not pitching,” offered Mercado. “He might spend some time in right field as well. He can go get it and he works hard to get better. It’s so hard to play right field in our park. Whether it’s the sun, the reflection off the bleachers, or the backdrop, it’s tough for anybody.”
If not Mitchell, several other players could see time in right field. “Austin Bercher is a sophomore who’s done a really good job. He grew up as an infielder and he’s worked really hard to put himself in the conversation for some starting time. We’ve got a couple seniors, Jake Baxley and Zane Denson, and our basketball guys as well, Jay Wright, Sam Forbus, Aiden Kennon, Hunter Houston, and Dawson Holt. All those guys are good enough athletes. It’s refreshing to know that we’ve got more competition coming.”
As for the batting order, Coach Mercado said it was just too early to say with much certainty. “We’re going to look for Bryce [Morgan] and [Braden] Skaggs to be up top, and beyond that we’ll have to see. J.T. Stanfill, Jake Baxley, and Brady Pettigrew have been hitting the ball really well. We’ve got to figure out the best defense while making sure we’re also going to score runs. I expect Dylan Strozier and Luke Brewer to be a big part of our offense, then the young guys will get a lot of opportunities. Aiden Kennon and Hunter Houston got a lot of at bats last year. They’ve got a chance to hit in an impactful spot in the lineup.”
The GHS head coach didn’t talk much about power-hitting but indicated that Luke Brewer has the potential to develop into a longball threat. However, the Bulldogs won’t be hanging their hats on the homerun. “Our M.O. is going to be attacking the bases and not settling for singles by putting pressure on the defense and letting power develop as we continue to grow.”
As for the rest of the conference this season, Mercado expects it to be a dogfight once again. “I expect Vilonia to be better this year. They were pretty young last year. Van Buren is always going to be competitive, along with Russellville and Greenbrier. Mountain Home has a new coach. Greenbrier has a new coach as well.” Siloam Springs and Alma round out the eight-team conference field.
So, Diamond ‘Dogs fans can expect another exciting season of high school baseball with a lot of new players eager to prove themselves. Despite having to replace eight seniors and a lot of experience, particularly on the mound, there is clearly plenty of potential in the talent pipeline to keep the line moving forward. And those are just the players we know about now. According to Coach Mercado, “We’ve got several guys I haven’t even mentioned who are dark horses to see if they can make something happen.” Those are the kinds of surprises that make athletics fun at any level. So, “Let’s play ball!”