Shawnee baseball works on fundamentals

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CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee is in a rebuilding process.

Over the last three years, the Arrows have only won six games, but continue to improve upon a strong foundation. Last season, they put together four wins, a small feat but a sign of an improving program.

They hope to build upon that this year, relying on a mix of strong senior leadership and a youthful roster to do the job. Head coach Joe Leach also wants to improve his team’s basic baseball knowledge.

“Being here, it’s my third year, just working on fundamentals has increased our chance to win baseball games by doing the right things,” he said.

Their pitching may be a bit down, after losing starters Sterling Leach and Corey Hooker to graduation, but the Arrows will rely heavily on their ability to hit the ball.

“If we can hit and play better defense, we should be able to win some more ball games than we did last year,” said Leach. “We have to try and score seven runs per game and if we get beat, we get beat. But we need to try to get at least seven runs per game and at least play fundamentally sound baseball and let the score fall where it may.”

The two senior captains, second basemen Clayton Morgan and catcher/pitcher Cody Chesnut will be looked upon to fire up the team and help lead the charge. There are several underclassmen, including sophomores Luke Lovely, Chase Thompson, Eric Smith, and Eli Moreland, that will be needed to produce at a high level for the year.

There is also a big group of seniors on the roster that haven’t played in a few years.

“They have to come intense and ready to play. What I’m requiring out of these guys is – we have practice, but that’s for the team – they are going to come out here and do individual workouts during the season to make themselves better and make themselves more comfortable with coming out here and playing on game day,” said Leach. “I want them to come out here and work hard.”

Shawnee opened up their season at home against Madison on Monday, March 28 and are scheduled to travel to Madison two days later on Wednesday, March 30. The game begins at 5 p.m.

They close out the week at Milton-Union on Friday, April 1 with the first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.

By Jeremy Erskine

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Reach Jeremy Erskine at 937-683-4061 or on Twitter @jerskine_RH.

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