Little Things Matter

Little things matter.  In a negative sense, it could be a pitch the catcher lets get by him that allows a runner to advance to second base and that runner scores on a base hit, whereas if he would not have advanced to 2B, he would have been held at 3B.  On the flip side, little improvements are noteworthy when you are trying to build a baseball program.  On Thursday night at Cardinal Park in Johnson City, TN against the Happy Valley Warriors, there were improvements.  

*It was the best In/Out (pregame) we have taken in two years.  For some reason we have struggled to take clean pregames, but on Thursday night, we looked good.  

*Dalton Rouse hit the ball with the most authority that he has in his high school career.  

*Hunter Haynes pitched 1 and 1/3 innings of clean relief, striking out two Warrior batters.  

*Freshman shortstop, Caleb Royston continues to put the bat on the ball, getting two hits Thursday night, and his timing and technique on the pickoff plays we run at second base was much improved.  

*We were able to take a good batting practice on the field before we left the ballpark on Thursay, which was big for us, with each player hitting 30+ batting practice pitches on the field.  

*Josh Owens is looking more and more like a true second baseman, after filling in out of necessity in 2018.  

*Parker Henry, who was hit for during most of his freshman season, continues to have good at-bats, including placing a beautiful bunt on Thursday night that a Warrior defender just made a good play on.  

*Junior, Mitchell Tolley who just joined our program, scored a run off the bench.  His speed will help us, as will his OF defense down the road.  

*Young players are getting tons of experience that will make them better players in the future.  Our start is no fun for anyone associated with Bulldog Baseball, but we cannot allow ourselves to not appreciate improvement.