McConnell's T-Birds ready for another year

The Eastern Greene Thunderbirds baseball team for 2011 includes seniors Tanner Bailey, Logan Hash, Mike Love, Davis Russell, Brody Stancombe; juniors Matthew Bays, Matt Christenberry, Nathan Cobine, Stephen French, Jake Hash and Robert McCann; sophomores Nick Calvert, Zak Eckerle, Logan Frye, Jake Johnson, Nathan Sparks and Kurtis Stille; freshmen Adam Curry, Chance French, Cameron Frye, Payton Heist, Cody Hopkins, Logan Hudson, Logan Manion, Michael McCann, Keith Ringer, Gage Shell and Justin Tatum. The team also includes student manager Dylan Enochs. Coaches include head coach Trevor McConnell, JV coach Ben Hutcherson and varsity assistant Dylan Enochs. (B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World).

LITTLE CINCINNATI -- Things look pretty good and the confidence is high for the Eastern Greene Thunderbirds baseball team and third year head coach Trevor McConnell.

"I'm cautiously optimistic, it's my third year coaching this group and I feel like they know my system now and there's some familiarity with my system," McConnell said. "The freshmen and sophomores early on are upperclassmen now. So there's a bit more familiarity with my system and the way I operate."

McConnell says early practice has yielded good results and he believes things are right on track for a better year than last.

"In early practice they've done really well," McConnell said. "I also think we've gotten some good leadership out of our seniors early on."

And that's something he thinks can carry the team a long way.

"This is the smoothest we have to a start of practice we've had in my three years," McConnell said. "Guys are leading and guys are helping the younger guys, I really think there's a good chemistry among all the guys really."

In the most important tangible areas McConnell is happy so far this year. He says between a deep pitching staff, solid improvement in hitting and a good, versatile defense he expects his team to be right there as the season progresses.

Two anchors of the staff, Zak Eckerle and Jake Hash, are coming off injuries and appear to be headed on the right track.

Neither have shown any lingering effects according to McConnell and both will provide linchpin work for what he feels is a deep staff.

"Those guys bounced back and they both look pretty good coming off their injuries," the coach said. "Fingers crossed, if those two guys come back like they were last year, we'll have a really deep starting rotation."

As for the bullpen, things appear to be just as good. McConnell says he has enough promising arms to make his bullpen one of the best in the area.

"We've got a plethora of arms in the bullpen," he said. "If we get the pitch counts up we'll have a good situation.

"We'll have relievers come in and throw strikes and get some outs for us."

When it comes to offense, McConnell might be a little more confident than he is about pitching. Even though he still wants to remain low key, he believes from top to bottom he will have a solid lineup.

"I don't like to be over confident, but going into my third season I'm more confident about our offensive abilities than I have been the previous two years," he said. "I think a lot of that's just guys being bigger, stronger, having reps and knowing my hitting philosophy and what I'm trying to accomplish offensively."

While it won't be one that is full of sluggers or full of burners on the bases, McConnell thinks it will be good enough to plate some runs and leave its mark on opposing defenses.

"From one through nine I think it will be potent enough to put some runs on the board," he said. "Obviously if you run into a great pitching performance that can stifle you, but I think over the course of the season I look for our offense to be pretty consistent just based on the guys that we have to plug in there."

Defensively its much the same story, depth and experience with solid fundamentals mixed in should make them competitive, at least in the coach's eyes and mind.

"I'd say we're pretty balanced," he said. "A lot of times when you look across a depth chart you see a lot of nor holes, but areas where you kind of worry about if a guy had to go in and pitch we'd be hurting here.

"This is the first year we don't feel like that. I genuinely and can say with conviction that I feel confident that we're not going to be giving up much defensively based on who's pitching because we've got a lot of depth at those defensive spots."

After opening last night at Bedford North Lawrence, Eastern Greene will play at Bloomington North Tuesday, April 5.

EASTERN GREENE

BASEBALL

DATE OPPONENT/SITE TIME

Apr. 6 at South Knox (V) 5 p.m.

Apr. 12 at Owen Valley (JV), 5 p.m.

Apr. 18 at Bloomington So. (JV) 5 p.m.

Apr. 18 Clay City (V) 5 p.m.

Apr. 19 at North Daviess (JV) 5 p.m.

Apr. 23 at Edgewood RR 10 a.m.

Apr. 28 at Mooresville (JV) 5 p.m.

May 17 at Union (Dugger) (V) 5 p.m.

May 18 North Daviess (V), 5 p.m.

May 20 Edgewood (V-JV) 5 p.m.

May 23 Barr-Reeve (V) 5 p.m.

2011 Eastern Greene

Baseball Roster

Head coach: Trevor McConnell.

Assistant coaches: Ben Hutcherson, JV coach; Shane Padgett, varsity assistant.

Student manager Dylan Enochs.