The start of the 2020 baseball season is now just days away for the Gentry High Rams.
In fact, next Tuesday represents the scheduled opening day for the Rams and third year Head Coach Timothy Holmes has five returning starters to lean on as the season begins.
The Rams will open their season on their home field next Tuesday when Humphreys County High of Belzoni visits for a 4 p.m. non-regional matchup.
As for the upcoming season, there are specific goals in mind for this season’s squad per Coach Holmes.
“Our goals for the year are to have a winning season, be competitive while finishing first or second in the district (Region 3-4A), and then host a home playoff series.”
Goal number one for the Rams would require improving on the 5-12 record earned last season; it was a won-loss mark one year removed from the first winning record (8-5) posted by a Gentry baseball team in a dozen years.
Goal number two could happen with a winning record. Last season, the Rams entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed from their region.
Goal number three would be huge; although the Rams now own seven consecutive playoff appearances, they habitually spend postseason competition on the road. Still searching for their first-ever victory in a playoff game, last season saw the Rams bounced from the playoffs in two games by New Hope High School. The Trojans would move on to claim the 4A State Championship.
When assessing his team, Coach Holmes noted that “A strength of our team will be our defense and we have a lot of team speed.”
Tempering those strengths with a huge area of concern, Coach Holmes observed “The coaching staff is mostly concerned about our pitching. We lost four starting pitchers last year. Also, our hitting is an area of concern.”
As for those five returning starters, four of these key players will take positions on the infield.
Potentially strong up the middle, the Rams will have junior Earl Liddell behind the plate, freshman Troy Griffin at shortstop, and freshman Elijah Powers at second base.
Expected to hold down third base once again is senior Darryl McCray while senior Malek Galvin will resume his role of roaming the outfield.
On the all-important pitcher’s mound, righthanders Griffin and McCray are the lone returning pitchers returning to the diamond this season.
New faces to the field Coach Holmes expects to make an impact this season include Kavarius Cooks (IF/P), Colby Delaney (OF/P), Jeremiah Jefferson (OF), Marcellus Powers (OF), and Brian Reed (OF/P).
When discussing regional play, Coach Holmes expects Clarksdale to be the team to beat as “they have all their returning starters from last year. However, every team in our district will be competitive since all of the games were close last year.”
