Friday, May 08, 2009
Mustangs look to get their season turned around
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
Recent columns
Paul Johnson was a few weeks into a high school baseball coaching internship at Eastern Montgomery High School early last month when he had a conversation he hadn't been expecting.
"You're the coach now," said Tracy Poff, EastMont's athletic director.
"Yes, sir," said Johnson, 22.
The previous coach, the well-meaning Dave Sisson, hadn't worked out as hoped. The next choice was one of the assistants. Johnson was the man. The other assistant, former Virginia Tech player Andrew Wells, remained at his post.
The Mustangs had played one game.
Johnson, a team member for three years at Roanoke College, had come to Elliston after being introduced to Sisson by esteemed Maroons coach Larry Wood.
Once he became head coach, Johnson sensed that all concerned were facing a challenging assignment.
"I know it's difficult for the players to see a different face out there each year," Johnson said.
Johnson is the fourth coach at EastMont since longtime former baseball boss Billy Wells, now at Glenvar, stepped down in 2005.
Challenging it most certainly has been for Johnson and crew. The Mustangs began this soggy week with 10 players, which is as many games as they've played under the new coach. None has been a victory. Most have been halted by the 10-run deficit rule.
With four regular season outings to go, no white flag has been seen flapping from the Mustangs dugout.
"If we play our game for seven innings, we can start getting things turned around," senior catcher Chad Raines said. "We haven't done that yet."
Added Seth Miller, the second baseman: "We're steadily progressing."
EastMont's story is similar to that of struggling teams the world over. One or two bad innings negate all the good done before or after.
To counter, Johnson has been big on instruction. Influenced by the approach employed by his junior varsity coach at VHSL Group AAA Chantilly High in Northern Virginia, Johnson says he always wants to furnish players multiple chances to succeed and never give up on anybody. Those methods have been welcome for EastMont's 10.
Who cares how old the new coach is? That seems to be a prevailing sentiment among the athletes.
"He may be young, but he's had a lot of experience in baseball," Miller said. "He's played at the next level. He knows a lot of things. He's connected with the team."
That's been noticed in the school's administrative offices. That is good for Johnson, who has a student-teaching year upcoming. He'd like for that to be at EastMont. Poff certainly will have nice things to say to incoming principal Danny Knott when they convene in coming weeks to discuss coaching openings.
"I think he's done a nice job," Poff said of the rookie coach. "Every game, the players are getting better. They're having fun playing again."
More fun still will involve winning some games. That's a hard go when you're the smallest school in the Three Rivers District and your immediate neighbor, Glenvar, is a perennial Group A state championship contender.
Which isn't to say it can't be done at EastMont. The Wells-coached Mustangs and the Shawsville Shawnees before them were always a tough out, even with low roster numbers. Wells' methods then remain the same at defending league champ Glenvar: Everybody is thoroughly schooled in the fundamentals, everybody plays multiple positions and just about anybody on the roster is prepared to take the mound to get an out in an emergency.
They work out and play baseball out of high school season. That's how it's done at a small school.
Predictably, pitching and defense have been big problems for this edition of the Mustangs. The best chances to win have come with Henry Hall, one of the team's seniors, on the mound. Hall and Raines, strong multisport athletes both, can be a solid battery. However, a bad pitch here and there or a muffed chance by an infielder and everything tends to fall apart.
Inconsistent pitching, erratic defense, a drought of clutch hits -- you know the story.
Players vow better days are ahead. Miller sees it coming.
"With how practices have been going, we've been working really hard and not goofing off as much. We're starting to buckle down and get ourselves together."
Added Raines: "People are going to overlook us. We play seven strong innings and we'll win some games."
