by Malcolm Butler
As Chad Yates enters his second year as the head coach for the Cedar Creek baseball team, he does so without fear of expectations for his Cougar program.
And he is quick to admit it.
“Expectations are never a bad thing,” said Yates, whose Cougars opened up their regular season with an 11-0 loss against Class 5A Parkway last night. “I think setting that standard and expectation of going out and competing each game … pitching, defense and competing at the plate … would allow us to stay in baseball games and give us a chance.”
In his first year in a Cougar uniform, Yates had to establish a winning culture and mindset that he believes will spill over into this season.
“Early on it was tough to break that (last year) because they weren’t used to winning,” said Yates. “They didn’t expect to win. We had teams on the schedule where they just looked at the names and thought ‘We are done.’ As they saw during the season where we started doing those things we asked and they started having success … it has definitely rolled into this year with this club.”
In preseason scrimmages against Oak Grove and Byrd and a jamboree win over Calvary, the Cougars showed some signs of promise despite a roster that is peppered with underclassmen.
“The expectation is to go out there and do well,” said Yates. “We saw that in our scrimmages against Oak Grove and Byrd and the jamboree against Calvary. I think everyone in the stands could see the difference in the body language and so forth.
“If we can go out there and take care of the things that we can take care of then we put ourselves in a position to compete with anybody we play.”
The Cougars will be led by sophomore pitcher and infielder Kade Luker, who was phenomenal at times during his freshman season. Yates said Luker will be at key not only on the mound, but at the top of the Cougars lineup.
“We are going to go as he goes in a sense of when you have a guy like that and you are looking ahead to a one-game playoff,” said Yates. “He has definitely ticked up in his velocity. His maturity is off the charts for his age. The biggest thing he has improved on is with his bat. If you make a mistake with a pitch with Kade then he can definitely change the score.”
The Cougars pitching staff will also need quality innings from senior JB Robinson (RHP), junior Jax Doiron (LHP), junior Connor Yates (RHP), freshman Eli Slocum (LHP), senior Aidan Crosby (RHP), sophomore Ryan Williams (RHP), freshman Cason Floyd (RHP), and eighth grader Noah Smith (RHP).
Doiron is a transfer from Evangel who Yates believes has great potential.
“Jax is a 6-4 lefty that has a chance to be really good,” said Yates. “His stuff plays. It’s just the maturity and getting the innings under his belt. He hasn’t had a lot of innings in high school baseball. This kid just needs to continue to develop. He could give us a big boost. He is 82 to 85-miles per hour from the left side. He has good enough off-speed stuff. to help.”
The Creek starting infield will include Luker at first base (Gavin Hall when Lukar is on the mound), Smith at second base, Yates at shortstop and Floyd at third. Junior Brett Bell will serve as the Cougars starting catcher.
“Noah has come on and really showed some maturity,” said Yates. “He started at middle linebacker at football and showed an ability to lead. We feel Cason will do a great job at third and hit for us in the middle of the order.
“Brett Bell will start behind the dish. Brett is in basketball right now, but when he is out there with us, it makes all the difference in the world. Noah will back him up. Having Brett out there makes us a more complete ball club.”
Coleman (LF), Kaleb Negrotto (CF) and Crosby (RF) will serve as the Cougars starting outfield, according to Yates.
“We also have some platoon guys like Doiron and Slocum,” said Yates, referring to the outfield. “With the way our pitching is … all of our pitchers also play out in the field. So when we make a moves, we will have a few guys we can substitute in and move around.”
Offensively, Yates thinks the Cougars could be solid although they must replace some veterans who were lost to graduation.
“We lost a lot of seniors last year,” said Yates. “We lost some maturity in how they handled the day to day schedule we had. This group of guys I feel production wise they have a chance to put up some really good numbers offensively.
“We expect aggressive at bats. We want to put the ball in play. Make the other team make plays. We want to battle with two strikes. We feel like it will be one of our strengths. We are anxious to get started.”
Cedar Creek will host Calvary Baptist in its season opener Thursday at 6 p.m.
