Page 2
Baseball Fever
March 9 & 10, 2005
Ironmen inexperienced on mound
to hit and play good defense
but hope
MIKE POWELL
‘Correspondent ;
- Cherryville baseball coach Henry
Jones is not playing games with the
opposition when he describes his 2005
squad as “inexperienced.”
A quick look at the roster reveals the
depth of the Ironmen’s graduated loss-
es: both starting pitchers (Chris
Christensen and Steven Justice), the
starting catcher (Josh Glover) and two
infielders.
“We basically lost the middle of our
team on defense,” said Jones, who is
entering his 32nd year as the
‘ Ironmen’s head coach. “We are going
to be inexperienced at pitching, and
we have to fill in some holes defen-
sively. What we have to do is play
defense and hit the ball, and hope the
pitching will come along a bit later.”
Despite his tale of woe, it is unlikely
that any team on Cherryville’s sched-
ule sympathizes with the veteran
coach. The Ironmen (21-6 overall, 11-1
conference) are still among the short
list of teams to beat in the Southern
Foothills 1A Conference this spring.
And while the graduation losses are
formidable, Cherryville has enough
veterans and talented newcomers on
hand to continue the school’s tradition
of excellent baseball.
The biggest question mark on the
team is pitching, where Jones must
find some arms to replace two of the
area’s top prep pitchers last year in
Christensen (11-1, 1.26 ERA, 117 strike-
outs) and Justice (8-4, 1.68 ERA, 97
strikeouts).
The only returning player with any
pitching experience of note is Jeremy
Craft, whom Jones estimates worked
“about 10 innings” in 2004.
“We have about five people throw-
ing, none with much experience. We
don’t have any overpowering pitcher
right now. It will be pitching by com-
mittee,” Jones said.
While the young pitching staff goes
through the maturing process, the
Ironmen must rely on defense and hit-
ting.
Among the top hitters coming back
are senior third baseman Brock
Alexander (.324, five homers and 27
RBI) and first baseman Trent
Thornburg (.348, no homers and nine
RBI).
Another player who will be counted
on to produce at the plate is DH
Steven Hoyle, who blossomed into a
top hitter during the second half of the
2004 season after recovering from an
injury.
Unfortunately, Hoyle is battling the
effects of another injury, this one a
knee problem that surfaced during the
football season last fall.
However, Jones said Hoyle is “in
better shape now than he was at any
time last year.”
Other returning players with varsity
experience are right fielder Jarred
Fuller (.306, one homer and 16 RBI),
Matt Oakers (DH, infield), and Tyler
Beam (infield). ;
Among the newcomers who may
contribute are Tripp McSwain
(infield), Al Benson (outfield) and
Brian Gardo, all up from the jayvees.
At the time of the interview, Jones
was awaiting the arrival of several
players from Cherryville’s playoff-
bound boys basketball team. They
include Alexander, Anthony Miranda,
Kalem Johnson, Cameron Lovelace
and Daniel Martin. Johnson and
Lovelace are both freshmen, but they
See Ironmen, Page 3
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¢. 4 ° //
Clramnber
of Cervmerce
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P.O. Box 305 » 220 East Main Street
Cherryville, NC 28021-0305
Phone: 704-435-3451 « Fax: 704-435-4200
Email: cherryvi@bellsouth.net
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PR
Henry Jones is entering his 32nd season as head coach at Cherryville High
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211 East Main St., Cherryville, NC 704-445-4888 ~ § Ll
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Good Luck Cherryville Ironmen
inthe 2005 Season!