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SM baseball team will start on road
Smoky Mountain will open its baseball season Tuesday, Feb. 28, with a 4 p.m. game at Hayesville.
Im very optimistic, Coach Ron Yount said. Weve got a lot of returning kids. Hopefully, well have some pitching. All of our positions will have experience returning except center field.
Returning all-conference players from last years 8-10 team include senior Matt Hawkins at first base and junior Grant Schallock at third base. They will both be counted on to lead the pitching staff.
Our strength will be in our pitching, Yount said. Were going to be stronger in our defense than last year, and weve got some pretty good sticks at the plate.
Other senior returnees include catcher Jeremy Wood, shortstop Coleman Corzine and first baseman Eric Coleman. Juniors back from last year are catcher Jared Deitz, second baseman D.J. Brooks, and outfielders Clay Cantler, Levi Buchanan and David Buchanan.
The Mustangs will be moving to the 2-A Western Athletic Conference.
Im looking forward to our new conference, Yount said. There will be more balance for us. We will have a much better opportunity to win more games.
West Henderson figures to be the team to beat in the WAC with Pisgah and North Henderson also having strong teams, according to Yount.
Tim Hawkins and Scott Hartbarger will be assistant coaches.
Scott Manshack will coach the JVs with Justin Hawk his assistant.
The schedule is as follows:
Feb. 28 at Hayesville.
March 1 at North Buncombe; 3 at Murphy; 6 Swain; 10 Tuscola; 13 Franklin; 20 Murphy; 24 Pisgah; 28 at Brevard; 31 East Henderson.
April 4 North Henderson; 5 North Buncombe; 7 at West Henderson; 17 at Swain; 19 Hayesville; 22 Blue Ridge at Western Carolina; 25 Brevard; 28 at East Henderson.
May 2 at North Henderson; 4 West Henderson at WCU; 6 at Franklin; 9 at Pisgah.
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