The Clarke Central High School varsity baseball team infield prepares for an inning against Cedar Shoals High School on March 2. After a 4-2 win in the first game, CCHS pitcher Jarrod Boon, a junior, feels that his performance was not his best and that the team needs to be prepared for all situations. “I could have done better. I hit a couple people. I was just messing up a few things, it’s the same thing. (CSHS) can put the ball in the play, and we just need to be ready for it. We just need to be ready for anything. I know they know how to play baseball, but we just need to be ready for anything. We can just think they’re not gonna do anything. It’s just gonna be easy. I gotta be ready for all of it.” Boon said. Photo by Gretchen Hinger
On March 2, the Clarke Central High School Gladiators varsity baseball team won both games in a doubleheader against the Cedar Shoals High School Jaguars with a final score of 4-2 in the first game and 6-2 in the second.
While the Jaguars started off the evening with a run in the first inning against pitcher Jarrod Boon, a junior, the momentum quickly faded as the Gladiators came back during the bottom of the second inning with third baseman AJ Huff, a junior, scoring the first run and second baseman Hayes Perno, a junior, scoring the second run shortly after.
Although the Gladiators were able to win the game with runs from first baseman Jasser Reyna, a senior, in the third inning and left fielder Will Robinson, a senior, in the fourth inning, Boon felt that the team lacked the energy they needed to perform to the best of their abilities.
“We need so much more energy, that’s our main problem in the dugout and on the field. We can’t underestimate anybody,”
— Jarrod Boon,
CCHS pitcher and a junior
“We need to play a little bit more live and just be ready for anything to come at us and, more importantly, ready to lay out the ball and ready to lay out for it,” Boon said. “We need so much more energy, that’s our main problem in the dugout and on the field. We can’t underestimate anybody (we have to) be ready for anything.”
After a 9-2 win against Athens Academy on March 1, CCHS varsity baseball head coach Nicholas Wegmann agrees with Boon and believes that energy is key to a successful game.
“I don’t think our energy level was where it needed to be (against CSHS). We played really, really well last night against Athens Academy. I don’t feel like we had the same intensity tonight,” Wegmann said. “If we would have played like we did tonight last night, we would not have won the game. So we definitely have some things to improve on, even though we won.”
Moving into the second game of the night pitcher Gavin Sabatini, a junior, kept CSHS from scoring in the first three innings with five strikeouts, and on the offensive side, the Gladiators started off the game strong with a run in the first inning, four in the second and one in the fourth, ending the game 6-2 Gladiators.
“I felt like they had a little more energy in the second game. We came out and got one run, and we came in second and then got four runs,” Wegmann said. “We just got to kind of keep that momentum going. I would say the energy is probably the biggest thing that we were lacking in the first game, but had in the second.”
Clarke Central High School third baseman AJ Huff, a junior, bats against Cedar Shoals High School varsity baseball team on March 2. CCHS varsity baseball head coach Nicholas Wegmann feels that the team played well against CSHS, but there are some things that they need to work on going forward. “I thought the pitching wasn’t that bad. We were kind of filling up the strike zone, making them put it in play,” Wegmann said. “We didn’t do that bad hitting the ball, but we weren’t able to string (hits) together.” Photo by Gretchen Hinger
Robinson feels that the second game was stronger than the first and is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“I think in the second game we improved our approach at the plate, we wanted to hit the ball more, we got more aggressive on the base path, our pitching was better and we only allowed two runs and that was in the last innings,” Robinson said. “I think the season is going good. We are seven and two right now that’s our best record in a while.”
Overall, Wegmann feels positive about the doubleheader against CSHS and although the Gladiators did well he is aware of the team’s weaknesses and is optimistic about the future.
“I’m still very confident in these guys. We’ve just got to learn to kind of keep our switch turned on at all times,” Wegmann said. “I think right now we’re just kind of seeing a team and playing to the level of competition that we think they are which puts us in a vulnerable position every time we go out to play. But, I’m still very confident in all of our players.”
