Cobras, Wolves anxious to return to field

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of a three-part series on Garland County baseball players who were already showing promise before the season was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

High school baseball teams across the state played just two weeks of their season before the Arkansas Activities Association mandated a "dead period" that bars athletes from practicing or competing, a period that has now been extended to April 17.

Fountain Lake head coach Josh Wesson said that as soon as he heard about the dead period, he sent his players a message.

"I said, 'I know there's a lot of you that are angry, a lot of you are sad [and] there's a lot of questions, but we talk about it all the time in our program ... worry about the controllables -- stuff that you can control,'" he recalled. "And this is a national crisis here. It's a world crisis, and it's out of our control, so I just preach to them, 'Keep the faith, worry about what you can control and work as much as you can.'"

While many coaches encouraged their players to maintain their training in hopes of the season resuming, Wesson also wanted them to focus on their personal relationships.

"Don't just worry about working on baseball stuff; work on being a better man, spending time with your family. ... This is a very unique situation, and there's a lot of people spending time with their families, probably more time than they've ever spent," he told his players. "I just preach to my seniors -- I have four seniors -- I said, 'You guys are gonna be gone here in a couple months. Enjoy this family time and make the best of the situation.'"

Coming off the program's first-ever conference title, Wesson had high hopes for the team.

"We went from a program seven years ago [where] people didn't even know that Fountain Lake had baseball to now we're pre-season 'Top 5' in the state," he said. "The boys worked really, really hard in the offseason. We fired up in November, and they worked extremely hard."

The Cobras took on some top-notch competition to start the season, facing teams including Monticello and Little Rock Central in the Kevin Oates Memorial Tournament for their first two contests, and managed a 3-2 record before the break.

Monticello put ace Nick Griffin, who is ranked by Perfect Game as the top left-handed pitcher in the state, on the mound for Fountain Lake's season opener

"I think there were like 10-plus pro-scouts there to watch him," Wesson explained. "He's a left-handed pitcher throwing mid-90s, and they weren't scared a bit. We actually no-hit them, and we got beat 2-0. ... We followed that up, played Little Rock Central, who's a great ball club and started the season 0-2.

Wesson was extremely pleased with senior pitchers Jake Turner and Preston White, who threw excellent games against Atkins and Star City.

"Jake Turner, my senior pitcher, did what [he's] done ever since he's been part of the program," he said. "He threw a perfect game and we beat [Atkins] 16-0. Then that Saturday we played Star City, another great program in the Little Rock Central tournament and we beat them. Preston White who's another one of my seniors pitched extremely well against them. ... Our last game that we played was in the Bauxite tournament, and we beat Glen Rose 7-1. We were really excited about this year."

Wesson believes that his players are continuing to maintain and hone their skills during the down time.

With regard to the overall character of his team's morale, Wesson holds complete confidence in his team's desire to progress and keep working towards its main goal if the season resumes.

"We're very fortunate; we have access to a very nice indoor facility downtown, and my boys have access to it 24/7," he said. "It's not a school facility, so those kids can go there on their own any time, and I'm sure a lot of them have been doing that. I have a great group, and those kids live in that indoor year round. I'll drive by on a Saturday during the winter and there'll be 10 cars outside, and it just speaks a lot to their character and leadership. ... I have no doubt that they are working every day just with the hope that maybe this thing will pass sooner than we think and we're gonna get to play."

While the Cobras were building upon a strong program, Lake Hamilton was just getting started with new head coach Matt Weigand.

The Wolves were in a "transition period" with Weigand, earning a 2-4 record before the break.

"There's a lot of new things these guys are having to learn," the former Malvern Leopards head coach explained. "I felt that before the season got postponed, we were really getting ready to hit our stride. This was all new to these guys -- my style of coaching versus what they were used to. There's a lot of differences. ... I thought we were fixing to hit our stride heading into conference."

Seniors Brayden Clark and Spencer Gracie, junior Carson Harris and sophomore Dylan Horton were all showing promise early.

"[Horton] was having quality at-bats 80% of the time," said Weigand. "Gracie and Clark were both at 70%, so they were very productive at the plate. Our top two arms were Gracie -- he was really competitive ... and also Carson Harris. We knew every time they went out we had a chance to win with those two guys."

The Wolves struggled in their first game against Arkadelphia with senior Jayden Quarles dominating the game on the mound, but Lake Hamilton led late in every other game it played.

"[Quarles] was good, and he's very competitive," Weigand said. "He shut us down, and we lost that, 3-1. We went down to [Texarkana] and played in a Texas High tournament. ... In week two, we played Harmony Grove, and we were leading that game 5-4 going into the seventh, and we lost that one. We won our last game that we played against Mena before we got suspended for the season. Just figuring out how to put a complete seven innings together is kind of where we were at when all this happened."

Weigand said that his players are a bit "stir crazy," anticipating their return to the field.

"We're in a tough spot because you don't want 'em getting together in big groups and stuff like that," he said. "But we've been talking through text, keeping up with our guys. They understand. ... And we're fully prepared. Our mindset is when we come back April 17, our plan is to resume our season, and that's our mindset until we hear different. I know our guys are missing some baseball. I've heard from a lot of them, so I know they'll be ready to go."

Sports on 04/03/2020

Upcoming Events