Familiarity key to baseball success for FC

Franklin County High School’s baseball program is returning many familiar faces to its line-up for the 2023 campaign with high hopes that the Bulldogs’ talent pool will, once again, build a Class 3A contender.

FC, with a 16-4-1 record during its 2022 campaign, made its way into the post-season by winning the District 7-3A title after going 10-0 in regional play.

That post-season run proved to be a short-lived venture as the Bulldogs were knocked off by Saint Patrick’s in the first round as the Fighting Irish claimed two wins in the best-of-three series.
“The way things ended last year left a bad taste in our mouths, but getting many of our players back and knowing what we have gives us a good feeling about the upcoming season,” FC Head Baseball Coach Michael Ward said.
“Our guys lifted weights last summer and the ones who were not involved in other sports had a good off-season program throughout the fall,” Ward said.

“When football ended, we got some of those guys back and we were able to do some baseball-type things two to three days a week. Since the New Year, we’ve been hard at it with the exception of those involved in basketball and soccer.”

About the only drawback to preparations for FC’s 2023 baseball season, according to Ward, has been the uncooperative weather that has produced long rainy spells.

“Unfortunately, (the rain) has meant we’ve had to do a lot of things inside the batting cages and on some indoor turf where we can do some drills,” he went on to say.

“It’s probably fair to say that all of us would rather be outdoors where we can work on things on the field, but, at the same time, our guys have gotten in some good work and I think that will pay dividends as the season goes along.”

The Diamond Dawgs will be led by six seniors — Ridge Clanton, Noah McCormick, Larry Pernell, Dawson Halford, Peyton Hebert and Kepatrick Nimox — and the squad has nine juniors on the roster.

“Three of those seniors — Ridge, Noah and Larry — are previous starters for us and have been with the program for a long time,” Ward said. “Our junior class also constitutes a big part of our talent pool because a lot of them have also had considerable playing time for us.”

Among those juniors on the roster are Dalton Meadows, Donovan Moore, Quez Rancifer and Jamari Tolliver, who have all seen action for the Bulldogs.

Other 11th graders expected to make contributions to the effort are Jamie Green, Reshon Baker and Ramsey Brown.

“A key for us will be to get the most out of our upperclassmen this season, and they have worked extremely hard after the way things ended last season,” Ward continued.

“They know we’re poised to be good again, but they also understand they have to put in the work that will get them there. For example, pitching depth was a concern for us last year, and we’ve worked to try to fix that before the start of this season.”

Offensively, FC had a great deal of success last season in getting timely hitting, and will be looking to continue that trend in 2023.

“When you look at the statistics, all of our guys put up some really good hitting numbers and just about every win was in double digits because we generated runs off those hits,” the coach noted.

“There is a great deal of familiarity with this side of the game and most of our guys have been in their positions for the last two or three years.”

In terms of defense, the Bulldogs didn’t make a whole lot of errors in 2022 and that previously mentioned familiarity with the game is another plus for the program, according to Ward.

The area of primary focus for FC baseball will be quality and depth on the pitching mound — and that will start with Meadows, who has the “big arm” for the team.

Another player that will be leaned upon in the pitching role will be Clanton, who has had a lot of success on the hill through the years, along with McCormick and Moore pitching in some contests.

“We let everyone throw bullpens throughout the fall and winter as a way to look for some pitching depth,” Ward said.

In regards to Franklin County’s junior high baseball program, the coach said he is high on the players he has suiting up to take the field.

“This is a really good group that has the potential to be the next ‘big group’ to watch for at Franklin County,” Ward said.

“We are seventh-grade heavy with some eighth graders mixed in there with a lot of talent. It might be a while before people get the chance to see them, but they are coming and we’re excited about the energy and enthusiasm they bring to us.”

In terms of ninth graders, FC has only one — Detrick Starks — in the line-up coming into the new season.

There are also five sophomores on the roster — Dakota Chisholm, Terrance Fields, Judson Arnold and Jack Hutto, who have been part of the team in the past, along with Trent Brumfield.

In terms of 2023 team expectations, Ward said the desire — however cliche it might sound — is to win more than they lose, and beyond that to win district and go deeper into the playoffs.

“We just have to be ready to play every time we go out on the field,” Ward noted. “The season schedule is pretty tough up front with some pretty good teams in North Pike and Brookhaven when we go to Wesson and turn around and play in the Loyd Star tournament and at Cathedral.

“Our schedule is kind of book-ended to see where we are early and we’ll have some good competition before we hopefully make it into the playoffs.”

Ward said he feels his team has most everything it needs to get rolling — with an emphasis on building pitching depth — to be competitive throughout the campaign.

Ward will be joined on the field by Assistant Coach Kent King, who he said is a “baseball guy” and looks forward to working with him this season.