DHS baseball team looks to break out of slump this week

Published Wednesday, February 24, 2010

To the untrained eye, it may seem like the 2010 Dadeville baseball team is headed for a long season.

After all, the Tigers (1-5) lost their first four games of the year to Tallassee and Auburn by a combined score of 59-9, before finally getting in the win column with a split against Opelika.

But, head coach Randy Nolen knows better. He knows winning means something to his players, and he believes things will get better.

“It’s not like we have a young team,” said Nolen, who was recently inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors and juniors, and with me knowing the kids the way I do, they have pride in what they do. They want to win. They’ve had that pride handed to them here early on, but we’ll get better. We’ve had a couple of good days at practice, and we will start competing better.”

Despite the lopsided scores, some of the games have been closer than they appear, Nolen said. Dadeville and Tallassee were tied 2-2 in the fourth inning of the season opener, but THS hung a 12-spot on the scoreboard in the fifth to break it open. Dadeville had a lead on Auburn before that game got away, and the Tigers were in control of their loss to Opelika until late-inning trouble plagued them.

“We’ve had a lot of situations to break games open. We just haven’t been able to do it,” Nolen said. “We have guys that will get a couple of hits, but when the bases are loaded and there’s two outs, we’ll hit a pop-up or swing at a bad ball on the first pitch. We’re actually hitting OK right now. We’re still trying to figure out the line-up, but we just need some consistency. The wheels have been running off late in games.”

The Dadeville order showed its potential power in the lone victory of the season against Opelika, as the Tigers pounded the Bulldogs in a 21-11 win.

Nolen said walks and poor defense have been a problem, as well. The Tigers have committed 29 errors in six games.

He didn’t get specific, but Nolen said a couple of people on the mound have performed well. But, he’s still looking for a few players to come out of the shadows and earn some innings.

“I’d like to have two or three guys step up and start pounding that strike zone,” Nolen said. “Early in the season, like I’ve said earlier, guys will have a lot of chances to get work. But if they don’t start performing, the opportunities will get less and less.”

The Tigers, who played late Wednesday against Jeff Davis, are scheduled to be in Tallassee all week. Dadeville takes on Alabama Christian Friday at Central-Phenix City on Saturday. After that, they welcome CPC and Benjamin Russell to DHS on Monday and Tuesday for a pair of doubleheaders.

“All you can ask the kids to do is compete,” Nolen said. “We need to go out there and play sound defense, don’t walk anybody and just give ourselves a chance to win. We’ve gotten some good at-bats; we’ve just got to string more together.

“It’s definitely a process, but we will improve.”

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