The first day of Spring may still need a while to arrive, but the Indianola Academy baseball team is not waiting.
Traveling today to Washington School in Greenville, the Colonels will open their 2025 season by taking on the Generals in a non-district 5 p.m. contest.
With only three returning starters available, this opening game will enable Head Coach Watson Cook to get his first look at a team featuring many new and young starters.
Additional baseball action will then occur next Monday when the Colonels travel to Winona Christian School.
One day later, Tuesday will usher in the first home game of the season when Winston Academy of Louisville comes to the IA field.
Both upcoming games are scheduled to have their first pitch thrown at 6 p.m.
As for his young roster, Coach Cook noted, “This a young team overall; however, there are a lot of opportunities for a lot of guys, especially early.”
The Colonels will embark on their new season hoping to improve on the 13-19 record earned last season.
Despite that team’s final record, a strong finish to that season was had giving the current crop of Colonels the good memory winning brings.
Given that fact, Coach Cook noted, “I am excited to see them compete after winning a couple of playoff series last year. Most of these guys were a part of that team and hopefully that taste makes them hungry for more.”
In that exciting 2024 playoff run, the Colonels reached the semifinals of the 4A North Playoffs.
The Colonels’ final series victory last season was clinched with an extra-inning decision over tonight’s opponent. Washington School saw their 2024 season end with the loss to IA after entering the playoffs as the District 2-4A champion.
Aided by Assistant Coach Pete Young, Coach Cook will be guiding his 20-man roster through a schedule which contains 29 games plus a Spring Break Tournament to be hosted by IA.
Youth is reflected in a large way on the IA roster – a list of players which contains 16 names which are sophomores or below.
As for the returning starters, junior Graham Howard is once again expected to use his speed in centerfield to track down fly balls.
A pair of pitchers with quality innings are also returning to bring much-needed experience to the pitcher’s mound.
This pair will be led by Patrick Davis, who recorded 25 strikeouts in his 24.1 innings pitched last season.
When not pitching, the ninth grader will fill an infield position as well as serving once again as a catcher. Last season Davis threw out 16 runners attempting to steal a base.
In the batter’s box, Davis’s .268 batting average produced eight doubles and 11 runs batted in.
Also expected to lead the way on the mound will be Ty Killebrew.
The sophomore righthander threw 22.1 innings and fanned 21 batters in the process.
At the plate, Killebrew accumulated a .344 batting average while drilling five doubles and driving 20 runners across the plate.
Last season, sophomore Blayne Fleming also logged 17 additional innings pitched which earned seven strikeouts.
With a total of five projected pitchers on the team, the group includes two sophomores (Killebrew and Fleming) and three freshmen (Davis, Ethan Hayes, and Easton Lloyd).
One of Coach Cook’s expected strengths of this team will be speed.
“With guys like Howard, Haygon Sheedy, Davis, Killebrew, and Levi Williamson, we hope to be very aggressive on the bases.”
As for concerns, Coach Cook noted the obvious, “Our youth. There will be some growing pains with a lot of the guys getting reps at the high school level for the first time.”
Regarding District 1-4A competition, Coach Cook noted that “North Delta School (Batesville) returns three-fourths of their team that played in the North 4A Championship series.”
Meanwhile, “Kirk Academy (Grenada) played for the state title last year and are returning two really good arms,” he noted.
