Jeff Kaley
WAURIKA — Since his wife is the math major in the family, Everett Hodges may have sought some instruction on ratios during the off-season. But beyond his continuing education, Waurika’s head baseball coach hopes his players paid attention when Ann Hodges and other math teachers were explaining ratios.
With a new season having begun Tuesday, being able to reverse the percentages of some key statistics will be a factor in the Eagles’ quest to build on a successful 2008 campaign.
In Everett Hodges’ first year as a high school skipper, the Eagles went 17-13 overall and won a district tournament game. The record was WHS’ best of the 21st century and the win the Class A playoffs was Waurika’s first in at least five years.
Six starters return from that club and the Eagles appear to have a solid group of ninth graders who’ll be major contributors this season.
The ratio factor emerges when Hodges addresses areas WHS needs to improve achieve the 2009 goals of a better overall record and winning a district championship.
Waurika took positive strides a year ago despite two worrisome team stats: 130 strikeouts and 55 walks on offense; and team pitching numbers that included equal numbers (130) of walks allowed and strikeouts recorded.
“One thing we’re going to emphasize with the pitchers this year is lowering the number of walks, which was the same as our number of strikeouts last year,” Hodges said. “Something else we want to do is try to reverse the ratio of walks and strikeouts we had on offense.”
For a pitching staff that returns three players, fewer walks and better defense are linked. Gil Griffin, Levi Henderson and Sean Hall are back in the pitching rotation, while Hodges also anticipates pitching help from junior Bobby Harris and the freshman quartet of Gage Pittman, Cameron Bloodworth and Tyler and Taylor Fuller.
Among that group, Griffin and Tyler Fuller are the “power pitchers,” which means location and getting hitters to put the ball in play are important.
Griffin was 2-4 last season, when the junior righthander was still recovering from major knee surgery. Tyler Fuller has a good fastball and control, but he’s yet to throw against varsity hitters.
“Gil is healthy and is really throwing well so far in practice,” Hodges said. “He’s probably the ace, but I foresee Tyler Fuller pursuing Gil as the season goes along.
“Sean Hall (5-3 in 2008) is good for giving us a lot of innings, and Levi (3-3 a year ago) has a good arm.”
Most of the pitchers “aren’t going to over-power hitters,” Hodges noted. “But if we get good location, make (hitters) put the ball in play and let the defense take care of getting the outs, we’ll be OK.
“We want to play better defensively, though. In Class A ball, defense is so important, because it’s all about making the plays. If you play good defense, you’ll win a lot of games, and hopefully, we can do that.”
The 13-player roster and having several potential pitchers means the Eagles’ defensive line-up will be flexible. Still, the anchor will be catcher Henderson.
“I think Levi will be one of the best catchers in the area,” Hodges projected. “He’s improved defensively and his arm is so good.”
Pittman has earned the start at first base, where Hodges said the ninth-grader “has looked good with the glove and will only get better.”
The middle infield positions — second base and shortstop — will rotate between Griffin, Tyler Fuller, Hall and junior Steven Driggers, with positions often determined by who’s pitching at the time.
Taylor Fuller will be at third base, except when Henderson pitches, at which time Fuller moves behind the plate and Bloodworth takes over at third.
The projected starting outfield is a savvy quartet, with Harris in left, senior Nathan Howard in center, Driggers in right and senior Matt Wilkerson able to fill at any of those spots. Bloodworth, freshman Evan Waid and Carlos Sanchez, a foreign exchange student from Ecuador, add depth to the outfield pool.
If pitching and defense are solid, Hodges is confident the Eagles can manufacture runs. Harris was a .433 hitter a year ago, while Griffin hit at a .467 clip, Driggers at .412 and Henderson at .390.
Lead-off hitter Howard led the 2008 club in steals and Hall should improve his .292 average from a year ago.
Although they aren’t proven at the varsity level, Hodges anticipates the five freshmen will become dependable hitters.
“We need to do a better job of hitting when we’ve got two strikes, and that will be one of the goals this year. But it looks like we’ve got a line-up in which everybody, from one through nine, can hit. We’ll score some runs,” Hodges said, adding that he’s getting valuable assistance from Larry VanBeber, who’s been a head man at previous coaching stops.
“The attitudes have been really good so far, because I think (the players) see this could be a special year,” Hodges said. “Our schedule is a little tougher. We’re only going to play each of the Southern 8 (Conference) teams once, so we’ve added Bray-Doyle and Rush Springs and the Ardmore j-v, which will be good teams for us to play.
“Petrolia (Texas) also new for us, and they went three or four games into the Texas playoffs last year.
“The immediate goal is to host a district tourney and to win it. To get to host a district, we’ll have to have a good regular-season record. Even though we’ll have to rely on freshman quite a bit, we have some productive kids coming back, and I think we can do that.”
