Icy weather has kept the Bearcats off the baseball field, but Thursday they were running drills and practicing to get ready for their first contest of the season: a scrimmage against Valdosta on Feb. 13.
After that, Bainbridge will host a tournament at the Bainbridge High School baseball complex on Feb. 17.
“We’ve got some good teams from Atlanta and Florida coming over,” baseball coach William McCorkle said. “We’re excited about having them and we’re just ready to play.”
McCorkle said the entire team was ready to play. Currently running tryouts this week, McCorkle will get regular practice going next week and begin preparing his team for Valdosta and the rest of the season.
Hopefully, that hard work and practice will lead the team to a Region 1-AAAAA championship, McCorkle said.
“We want to get to where we’re contending for a region championship every year, and then the state title will take care of itself,” McCorkle said. “You get into the playoffs and anything can happen.”
Last season the Bearcats went 12-14.
Some things that will be carried over from last season McCorkle feels confident about.
“We were pretty good defensively,” McCorkle said. “We felt like our outfield was as good as anybody in our region. We felt like our pitching kept us in every game.”
But some things the team will need to improve on. McCorkle said the crux of the team’s losing record in 2013 was failure to drive in runs.
If the Bearcats handle the bat well and focus on sending players to home plate when it matters, the 2014 season should turn out better than last.
“We lost probably six or seven games by two runs or less,” McCorkle said. “If we got a couple more hits in those spots, we might’ve ended up 20-6 last year. That’s how close we were.”
As the season quickly approaches, the Bearcats are focusing on mastering fundamentals and representing Bainbridge to the best of their ability.
“We want to get as many guys in the stands as we can to come out and watch these guys,” McCorkle said. “They work hard, and they understand that they represent this school and this town every time they put that uniform on.”