Calm, cool, collected.
Having these characteristics becomes increasingly tough in the postseason. The deeper the run, the higher the pressure.
But as the Bayfield High School baseball coaching staff was trying to prepare for this weekend’s state tournament, it was one of the youngest Wolverines who provided the reassuring voice of reason.
“One of our kids, freshman Kelton McCoy ... looked at us and said, ‘Coach, we just need to do what we’ve been doing,’” BHS head coach Tom Horton said. “We’re trying to come up with all these great things to do to get better, and he simplified it.”
From the mouth of a babe – at least as young a player as the high school level will allow – came a fine example of how loose and relaxed BHS has been up to this point in compiling a 19-2 record and a district championship. So don’t be surprised if the Wolverines aren’t awestruck when they step onto state’s stage in Greeley at 10 a.m. today against Brush.
“I think we’ll be loose through the first game, and if we play well like we’ve been doing – and I expect to play well – I think that’ll carry on,” Horton said. “If we don’t play well in that first game, the looseness might go away, but I really do believe ... if we win the first it’ll carry right on.”
Of course, it’s easy to relax behind a pitching staff that carries a 1.13 team earned-run average and a staff who’s most recent result was a five-inning no-hitter from Clay Miller in the district championship game. Bayfield might have the best collection of arms at the dance, and Horton’s done his research to help prove that theory.
“Two of the teams that don’t comply (by turning stats in to MaxPreps), and we have no stats on them ... we really don’t know what they’ve got,” Horton said. “We look at newspaper articles. We do research. I know who the studs are to some degree. I think, I really do believe, our No. 1 and No. 2 pitching, we match up.”
But what’s helped put the pitchers’ minds at ease has been the early run support they’ve been given by their offensive counterparts. Miller was staked a 7-0 lead after two innings in Saturday’s win over Cedaredge, and Matthew Knickerbocker received five runs in the first and seven more in the third in Saturday’s victory over Florence.
Such displays have become a regular occurrence after BHS struggled to score early in the season’s infancy. And early runs become a huge boost of confidence because with the arms Bayfield boasts, a three-run first inning might just be enough on its own for a victory.
“At the very beginning of the year, about the first third, we never scored in the first inning,” Horton said. “And we kept pushing that and stressing that it takes pressure off the pitchers. It puts pressure on the other team, takes it off our team, does both.
“We’re going to run into stiffer competition; I know that. But of late, when we spot our pitchers a few runs early ... chances are the other team isn’t going to catch up.”
If BHS does as McCoy said earlier this week, his wisdom may just turn into a state championship.
rowens@durangoherald.com
