BASEBALL HOUNDS
So far, the Greyhounds have faced one another on the diamond, including the conclusion of their series of intrasquad games that ended this past weekend. It served as a key time for on-field experience on a team with a combined 11 juniors and seniors.
“Honestly, we feel like our guys are at a spot where we’ll be competitive. We’re young and freshman and sophomore heavy,” Greyhounds head coach Mike Paulk said. “We’ll be young, but the skill level is to the point where we feel like we can make some noise.”
The recent set on intrasquad games allowed the Greyhounds coaching staff to get a broad look up and down and the roster, where one thing stood out from a pitching staff that already includes three senior leaders – lefthanded Dawson Harris, Bo Mansfield and Brody Gordon.
“Just the depth of our pitching that we have. We have so many arms that we can go to that we feel are quality arms. With young arms, the velocity is not up as high, but the pitches they throw, the off-speed stuff and knowledge of what to throw, that’s what really surprised me,” Paulk said. “We knew our older guys would go out there and compete, but what our young guys did surprised me with their depth of knowledge.”
That changed earlier this week with a scheduled scrimmage against West Laurens, leading into a season-opening span of games starting with Friday at Appling County. After that, the Greyhounds play Monday at Perry before a pair of home games next Thursday and Friday against West Laurens and Perry.
Part of the challenge of facing Appling, a regular state playoff contender? The fact that the Pirates have a pitcher who has signed to play for Tennessee.
“We’ll go against someone who’ll give us a pretty good test. It’ll give us a really good chance to look at where we are,” Paulk said. “We’re looking forward to facing good competition, so our young guys won’t be surprised when they see that during the season.”
