“I am just excited to get going,” said Indianola Academy baseball coach Watson Cook.
And the second-year head coach will not have long to wait as IA’s 2024 season opens next Monday with a trip to Washington School in Greenville.
This season-opener will then be followed by another road trip next Tuesday to Winston Academy in Louisville.
With the first pitch of both varsity games scheduled to be thrown at 6 p.m., Coach Watson is hoping to see his squad on its way to improving on last season’s 13-13 record.
Aiding Coach Cook in guiding the IA team through a schedule which contains 31 games and a Spring Break Tournament, is Pete Young. Coach Young is a former All-American baseball player at Mississippi State University. He also spent two Major League seasons with the Montreal Expos.
“Having a guy like Coach Young here to work with these guys is certainly a blessing,” said Coach Cook.
As for his take on the upcoming season, Coach Cook observed that “This is a group that has a chance to win a lot of games if they come together. We’ll have a mix of veteran guys with young, experienced, but still young guys in the lineup every day.”
Putting in the work for success appears to have been had as Coach Cook notes “Some guys have been practicing since October, depending on availability with other sports. Some we’ve seen a handful of times.”
“The biggest thing I want these guys to do is just relax and play the game,” said Coach Cook. “Limiting errors defensively and not letting one mistake turn into two or three will be a focus for us as well as developing more of a “we” versus “me” mindset,” he continued.
As for those veterans in the lineup, there are seven returning starters coming back for the 2024 campaign.
“We are blessed with experience and all these guys will be expected to make an impact,” said Coach Cook.
Players expected to be especially impactful this season include “Walker Perkins from a leadership standpoint, Patrick Davis behind the plate controlling the run game, and Tyler Jackson (third base) back out after not playing last year,” said Coach Cook.
On the all-important pitcher’s mound, the Colonels will be leaning on senior Liam Ledbetter for another solid year.
Last season the left-hander led the team in innings pitched (45), wins (5), and strikeouts (49).
However, there are four additional arms that can bring experience to the mound this spring for the Colonels.
In addition to seniors Jackson and Weston Farmer, ninth-grader Ty Killebrew and eighth-grader Davis are expected to see quality time on the mound.
Other returning position players are shortstop Perkins and second baseman Killebrew. While Perkins stole 10 bases last year, Killebrew owned the highest batting average in last season’s campaign.
Behind the plate, Davis will return to quarterback the defense. As a seventh -grader, Davis caught every inning of every game. In the process, he threw out 13 runners attempting to steal a base and picked off three more.
At first base, Farmer returns to hold down this position while the outfield will find Gage Berry and Abel Williamson chasing down fly balls.
As for District 1-4A competition, Coach Cook expects Kirk Academy of Grenada, Marshall Academy of Holly Springs, and North Delta School of Batesville to once again field strong teams. All three schools reached the state semifinals last season.
