Page 10
Baseball Fever
March 9 & 10, 2005
CARRYING A HEAVY LOAD
Brock Alexander a versatile player for Cherryville s Ironmen
By MIKE POWELL
Correspondent
Brock Alexander carries a heavy load
going into his senior season with the
Cherryville High School baseball team.
Not only will Alexander be counted
upon to hit for an average, deliver the
long ball, drive in runs and field his
position, the three-sport athlete may be
asked to help out on the mound.
And just for good measure, coach
Henry Jones will expect Alexander to
provide some senior leadership for an
inexperienced team.
Does all that responsibility weigh
heavily on Alexander heading into the
2005 season?
Not at all. .
“I am not the only senior leader, but
I will do whatever is necessary for the
team,” Alexander said during a recent
workout at Buck Fraley Field.
“Hopefully, I won't have to pitch, but I .
can get on the mound if I need to.”
It is that kind of blue-collar, good
work ethic attitude that has character-
ized Alexander’s athletic career at
Cherryville.
For example, it would have been
easy for Alexander to take the winter
off after the grind of an 11-game foot-
ball season that saw him start both
ways (tight end and defensive line).
Instead, he joined the boys basketball
team as a first-year varsity player. As a
backup power forward and center,
Alexander has made a significant con-
tribution to the Ironmen’s runner-up
finish in the Southern Foothills 1A
Conference and berth in the playoffs.
He has averaged about six points per
game and has scored in double figures
on a couple of occasions.
In baseball, Alexander will move from
Brock Alexander will be one of the leading hitters and will play several differ
ent positions for the Ironmen
a supporting role to a prime time play-
er. As a junior, the 6-foot-3 Alexander
led the Ironmen in home runs (five)
and RBI (27) and compiled the second-
508 Park St.
Belmont, NC
highest batting average (.327).
He is entrenched as a starter at third
base and may see some spot duty on
the mound, even though he has never
pitched at the varsity level.
As for individual goals, Alexander
wants to hit over .300 and field his
position well.
And he wants to do a better job of
hitting off-speed pitches. Known
around the league as a power hitter
who feasted on fast balls earlier in his
career, Alexander now sees mostly
breaking balls and pitches away from
his power zone.
By his own admission, Alexander
has struggled to make the adjustment.
“I am not getting the fast balls I was
when I was younger. This season I
want to use the middle more and not
try to pull everything. I have to adjust
to seeing more breaking stuff,” the
right-handed slugger said.
As for team goals, Alexander said the
primary objective is the same as
always at Cherryville—win the confer-
ence championship.
“Coach Jones always tells us to have
one goal at a time. We are going to
focus on the conference first. We are
rebuilding from last year and we lost
some key players. But we still have
some people who will come up big.
We just have to come out hitting strong
and work on our defense,” Alexander
said.
What will a banner senior season
mean for Alexander's future? There
could be some baseball scholarship
offers ahead if he performs well.
“My goal is to go to school and get
an education. I want to play some
sports, football and maybe baseball as
a walk-on,” said Alexander.
The senior is undecided on a college,
but he is interested in Methodist
University in Fayetteville, N.C. Other
schools could come into the picture in
the spring.
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