The DeKalb County High School Tigers baseball team is prepping for their upcoming season, playing a few preseason games and a 50-inning practice, getting some on-the-field experience. With the season opener less than a week away, the coaching staff says the team is looking good.
“I think we’ll be okay moving forward,” Head Coach Tad Webb said the day after the team scrimmaged with the Smith County Owls. “There was some things last night that obviously I felt looked good, and there were areas we need to improve on. It’s just like any other scrimmage that we look at, we can assess it and move forward with it.”
When asked about this year’s pitching lineup, Coach Webb said he has several weapons at his disposal. “Early on we looked good. With Knowles just now coming back [from his basketball season], he’s not been in the bullpen as much. We’re getting a little bit more time with him. Cantrell looked good last night, Emberton looked good last night. Avery South was sick, so he wasn’t able to get any pitches, but Cam Cabellero, a sophomore, came in and threw pretty well for us. Grayson Hendrix threw for us, as well as Konner Young. We looked good at times, but there’s always things we can improve on.”
Coach Webb said he’s going to rely on his experienced pitchers from last season. “Cantrell is our ace pitcher, then our next two guys, Emberton and South, I feel very confident with them. With what they did for us last year, the capability is there. They were able to pitch on those Monday and Tuesday games and did a phenomenal job, along with Patrick. Knowles, being a closer, came in last year and did what he needed to do. We’re looking for that same punch this year, but it’s a new year and you never know what happens.”
This season will see some changes in the district, but Coach Webb said they are teams the Tigers have faced before. “We’ve got some teams that went out and some new teams that have come in. It’s still us and Upperman, Livingston, Macon, and the three new teams that have come in is Stone Memorial, Cumberland County, and White County. Smith County, Cannon County, and York Institute are gone.”
When asked if the changes make the district stronger, Coach Webb said it is hard to tell. “We played White, Cumberland and Stone Memorial last year, and Stone was a very good ball club last year. We don’t know who they have returning, or who the other teams have returning either. I feel like it will be a very competitive district at this point. We’ve just got to continue to work and see how everything falls.”
The Tigers did better than expected last season, and Webb said that the team continues to have high expectations this year. “We’re going to go out and do the best we can and compete game in and game out. That’s what I was most proud of last year. We need to compete in every game.”
The Tigers’ season opener is Monday, March 14, in White County at 5:00 p.m. Their home opener will be Tuesday, March 15, at 5:00 p.m. also against White County.
