Page 8
Baseball Fever
March 9 & 10, 2005
MOUNTIES
From 7A
third base when Ronnie
Wilson was on the mound,
could see a lot of action this
year.
“He has a good assortment
of pitches,” King says. “He's
going to relieve a lot.”
The sixth member of the
mound crew is sophomore
Kevin Bell, who may be a
swing player between the JV
and varsity teams.
“With all the pitching talent
we have, I just don’t know if
I'll have enough games for
him to pitch in,” King says.
“But he really looks good.”
Catcher may be a pleasant
surprise for Kings Mountain
fans. The Mountaineers lost an
_ All-Conference receiver and
one of their best clutch hitters
in Matt Echols but his back-up
Josh Hendricks has put in a
tremendous amount of time
on his own sharpening his -
skills.
“From the day we finished
last year until now he’s been
out there working every day,”
King says. “He looks a lot bet-
ter than last year. His throws
to the bases are looking good.”
Senior Brad Moffitt will
also battle for the starting
catcher’s spot. He missed a
number of games last year
with an injury but came back
strong late in the season.
“Brad’s a good receiver,”
King said. “He maybe doesn’t
have the arm that Josh has but
he does a good job behind the
plate and has a lot of experi-
ence.’
Tyler Leach will get some
competition at third base from
junior Trey Robinson, who
played on the JV team last
year, and Camp when he is
not on the mound.
“Tyler did a good job there
for the (Gastonia) legion team
last summer,” King said. “He’s
so versatile. If I need to I can
put him back at first base. He
can play a lot of positions.”
Camp could turn into a
“utility type” player in both
the infield and outfield, King
said.
“His first priority will be the
outfield, but he may play
some at third base too,” King
said.
Ryan Leach returns at short-
stop, where he is a good
defensive player and hit .258
last season. Cody Barrett
played short last year when
Leach was on the mound, and
he could do that again but will
likely see most of his time at
second base where the
Mountaineers lost All-
Conference standout CJ
Austin.
Camp and Chris Patrick
could see time at either short
or second.
Glass will hold down the
starting job at first base, and
when he’s on the mound
either Melton or Robinson
will be there. Glass hit .276
and scored 16 runs last year. -
“With Melton’s height he
can play multiple positions,”
King says. “That helps.”
The only returning outfield-
er is Isaac Proctor in left field.
Proctor and Tyler Leach were
the team’s only .300 hitters last
year, with Proctor hitting .317
with 20 hits and nine runs.
King has a lot of other talent-
ed athletes he can use in cen-
ter and right, including
Melton, Patrick, Philip Bunch
and Richard Anderson, who
is up from the JV team.
“We're going to be moving a
Eric King, left, begins his second season as head coach of
the Kings Mountain Mountaineers. Right is his assistant
Kenneth Pasour.
lot of people around,” King
said, “especially early in the
season.”
Needless to say, pitching is
the team’s major strength but
even with the loss of four All-
Conference players (Echols,
Austin, Wilson and center
fielder Bo Bridges) King feels
the defense could even be bet-
ter than last year.
“I feel good about the
défense,” he says. “We lost
some key people. All of those
guys did a good job. But we
had people on the sidelines
that could have played last
year. Overall we have better
speed on defense.”
Don’t get the idea that
everything is rosy, though.
King says there are areas
where the team must improve
tremendously if it’s to make a
run for the state playoffs.
“I think the major thing we
have to work on is being more
aggressive on the bases,” he
says. “And we're going to be
g to hit better. As a team,
we only hit .276 last year.
That's not bad, I guess, for a
team that was 18-8.”
But King, who won three
state championships in
Virginia and played for one in
North Carolina when he was
head coach at North Gaston,
has a knack for getting the
most out of his players.
“I think a good problem is
that we have so many good
players,” he says. “I'll have
people on the side that could
start somewhere else. I like
their attitude. They've been
coming in at 6 o'clock in the
morning and getting in their
bullpen work, hitting and con-
ditioning. I hope the seniors
will lead like the ones I had
last year. Even though we got
knocked out of the playoffs,
they went out on a good
note.”
KMHS SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY
28 - at East Gaston, 4:30
MARCH
1 - at North Gaston, 5 p.m.
4 - at Ashbrook, 4 p.m.,
(JV / Varsity DH)
- 9 - Ashbrook, 4 p.m.
(JV / Varsity DH)
11-- South Point, 4 p.m.
15 - at St. Stephens, 7 p.m.
16 - Shelby, 4:30
19 - Bessemer City, 12 noon
(JV / Varsity DH)
21 - N. Lincoln (End.), 6 p.m
22 - R-S Central, 7 p.m.
24 - Crest, 7 p.m.
28-April 1 - at Shelby Easter
Tourn., TBA
APRIL
5 - at Hickory, 7 p.m.
8 - at Burns, 7 p.m.
9 - at Bessemer City, 12 noon
(JV / Varsity DH)
12 - ET. Foard, 7 p.m.
15 - St. Stephens, 7 p.m.
22 - at R-S Central, 7 p.m.
26 - at Crest, 7 p.m.
28 - Hickory, 7 p.m.
MAY
3 - Burns, 7 p.m.
5 - at ET. Foard, 7 p.m
5-14 - SWFH Tourn. at Crest,
TBA
17 - State tourney first round
20 - District final
24 - Sectional final
27 - Regional
; JUNE
3 - State Championship
series
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