JESSIEVILLE — Leadership on and off the field in high school sports is usually a quality attributed to experienced seniors, but one Jessieville baseball player proved he could be the voice of the Lions as a freshman.
Broc Mayr contributed to the Lions' efforts this season as a leader while mainly pitching and playing first base. The standout freshman pitched 21 1/3 innings and tallied an ERA of 3.61 on the season.
While Mayr played many different sports when he was younger, he mostly plays football and baseball now. Mayr registered 30 strikeouts on his way to becoming The Sentinel-Record's 2021 All-Garland County Baseball Player of the Year.
"I focus more on baseball because I just like it the most out of all the sports I play," Mayr said. "It's more of a chess game almost where you have to think about stuff and kind of calm down."
Mayr said his main role on the team this season was being a leader.
"When I was pitching, I would kind of take control," Mayr said. "We only had two juniors this year, so it's kind of odd in the first place. I guess since we were all friends in the first place, it just helped. They didn't really mind (I was leading). I mean, we all kind of did everything together."
It was important for Jessieville to have a young leader on a very young team.
"A huge boost going into next year of confidence," Jessieville head coach Ryan O'Neal said. "We're getting some experience underneath a lot of our freshmen. We had five freshmen starting most games. Most of the rest of them were sophomores other than the two juniors that were in there some of the time."
The team did not have a senior on the squad this season, leaving the leadership roles up in the air, and Mayr was like a third coach on the diamond.
"With his baseball experience, he has a lot of knowledge to share with other young guys as well," O'Neal said. "Us not having any seniors, we were kind of looking for someone to step up and take the leadership role. He grabbed hold of it and ran with it."
Mayr put his team first. He noted how being able to contribute to the team in different ways helped.
"I want to help my team as best as I can," Mayr said. "If I have to play one position, I'll play that position. If coach puts me in the outfield, I'll play in the outfield and do the best I can."
Mayr realized he would be able to compete on a higher level from game one.
"(I learned) high school baseball isn't as hard as I thought it would be compared to what other people had said," Mayr said. "I was more worried about the older kids versus us -- like seniors versus freshmen. Because most of our team was freshmen and sophomores, I think my first game is when it kind of clicked that I was able to play just fine."
Mayr did not just contribute with his pitching arm, but the freshman also boosted the Lions' offense at the plate.
Batting at .471 while tallying 15 RBIs, Mayr also accounted for six doubles and two triples.
One of Mayr's favorite memories from the season came at the plate against Two Rivers when he hit one of those two triples.
"I thought it was going to be caught, and I just kept going, and I was safe," he said.
In 41 plate appearances, Mayr only struck out four times.
Even after a stellar freshman season, Mayr has three years to keep improving at the high school level. Moving forward, he said he wants to work on his pitching and batting the most. His pitch repertoire includes a four seam fastball, two seam fastball and two off-speed pitches.
"I'd like to work on everything, but mostly my knuckle and my curveball," Mayr said.
O'Neal said the freshman pitcher could work on his control a little bit and improve on reading batters.
Although Mayr still has three years left in high school, he has plans for the future.
"I mean I would like a scholarship," Mayr said. "But after that, I would like to try to get into the Air Force Academy."
Like most pitchers, Mayr put it simply, he likes to strike people out.
"It's hard to have somebody else out there taking control of it," O'Neal said. "Whenever you're stuck in the dugout and you have a kid who knows what you want before it even happens. There's no difference between a game and a practice for him. Everything he does is full out."
———
Baseball
P/1B Broc Mayr, freshman, Jessieville, .471 batting average, 15 RBIs, 6 stolen bases
P/3B Wesley Campbell, sophomore, Fountain Lake, 45 IP, 60 strikeouts, led team in RBIs
P/OF Carson Harris, senior Lake Hamilton, .375 batting average, 32 hits, 13 doubles, 3 HRs, 25 RBIs, 95 strikeouts, 7-3 record
P Wyatt Gibson, sophomore, Lakeside, 48 1/3 IP, 2.61 ERA, 44 strikeouts, 12 BB, 1.15 WHIP
IF Jack Wurz, senior, Fountain Lake, .580 batting average
IF Bryce Brownlee, senior, Fountain Lake, led team with 5 home runs
IF Rylan Roberts, sophomore, Mountain Pine, .300 batting average, .952 fielding percentage, .412 OBP, .396 SLG, 11 stolen bases
SS Ryan Fields, senior, Lake Hamilton, .400 batting average, 34 hits
SS Braydon Radley, senior, Mountain Pine, .469 batting average, .606 OBP, .633 SLG, 20 stolen bases
CF Brennan Browning, sophomore, Lakeside, .365 batting average, 3 HRs, 26 RBIs, .500 OBP, .600 SLG, 22-22 stolen bases-attempts, .990 FP
CF Josiah Walpole, senior, Mountain Pine, .395 batting average, .619 OBP, .579 SLG, 21 RBIs, 17 stolen bases
OF/P Brady Arnold, freshman, Lakeside, .370 batting average, .514 OBP, 14 RBIs, 24 1/3 IP, 1.15 ERA, 21 strikeouts, 9 BB, 0.81 WHIP
OF Ethan Cevela, senior, Lakeside, .266 batting average, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 3 HRs, 22 RBIs, .412 OBP, .547 SLG, 11-11 stolen bases-attempts
Mitchel Herron, senior, Cutter Morning Star
Elias Parker, senior, Hot Springs
