Tigers take on tough challenges in 2010

After a 13-10 campaign in 2009 that featured a trip to the 1A playoffs, the Graceville Tigers baseball squad will have to replace some key departures and navigate a tough new district to get back to the postseason in 2010.
The Tigers fell to rival Malone in the district title game for the second time in a row last year. They were then knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Paxton.
But the days of Malone and Graceville dueling for district titles are gone, with Graceville’ new eight-team district including Sneads, Cottondale, South Walton, Blountstown, Holmes County, Bozeman and Vernon.
Holmes County and South Walton moved down from 3A, where the Blue Devils won 22 games in 2009.
Bozeman also won 22 games last season, and made it to the 2A regional finals.
Graceville coach Travis Miller said he and his players know they’ll have their hands full with the expanded district.
“I feel like it’s going to be a tough road through our district,” the coach said. “But I think we can compete with most of teams in the league.
“Obviously, we’re a little bit smaller than everybody but Cottondale in the district, so we can’t afford to play bad games and have bad nights. If you play bad, you’re going to lose. You have to make sure you show up every night. If we do that, we’ll be solid.”
To do that, the Tigers will have to find a way to replace key players from last year’s team, such as starting shortstop and pitcher Justin Miles, pitcher Aaron Taylor, first baseman Joey Sports, second baseman Julius Carver, and outfielder Jordan Cox.
The good news for the Tigers is that they still return a solid core from last year’s team, including a wealth of experience on the mound.
Chris Willis, who led the Tigers in innings pitched last year, returns for his senior season,. Also returning are starters Nick Paprzycki and Tyler Crutchfield, who was the team’s Most Valuable Player last season.
Miller believes he can count on his pitching staff to compete every night.
“We don’t have anyone who is overpowering, but they’re guys who will keep us in the game and not kill us pitching,” the coach said. “They will throw strikes and let us play defense. If we throw strikes, we’ll have a chance.
“I feel good about our staff. We’ve got a lot of maturity on the mound. They’re not superstars, but they’re solid guys.”
However, Miller said he expected his team’s offense, particularly at the top of the order, to be a strength this season.
“Offensively, we’re going to be pretty good,” the coach said. “We’ve got some young guys who have to fill in the gaps, but we’re going to be pretty tough from one to five. The top five are as good as anybody we play. Those guys will be the core of our lineup.
“We just need good at-bats from those guys later in the lineup. They just have to take what the pitchers give them, and the other guys will drive them home.”
Freshman shortstop Clay Jenkins will be leading off for Graceville, Miller said, with freshman Jacky Miles batting second.
Willis, Crutchfield, and sophomore third baseman Devin Casidy will helm the 3-4-5 spots in the order.
Miles will play catcher, and teamed with Jenkins, will give the Tigers a lot of speed at the top of the lineup.
“Last year, we had a couple of guys in Justin Miles and Jordan Cox who could get on base, but this group is probably better as pure hitters,” Miller said. “We have a lot of guys starting this year who will be younger guys. We don’t know yet what they’re going to do on varsity, but they’re really good players. They just need experience.”
If practice has been any indication, the Tigers will be playing better ball towards the end of the season, rather than at the beginning.
“We’re young and you could tell the first few days (of practice),” Miller said. “At first, there was a lot of learning. We’ve got young guys, but they’re good ballplayers and they catch on fast.
“You can tell a big difference with them over the last couple of weeks. They’ve come a long way. I like them because when you get on them, they don’t hang their heads and pout. They don’t feel sorry for themselves. That makes a difference when the coaches can coach them without worrying about how they’re taking it.”
Miller and his staff will need to coach them up well if the Tigers are to make another appearance in the playoffs.
“It’s going to be a lot harder because it’s better competition,” the coach said. “Malone was always tough in district before, but we always felt like we could get to the championship game against Malone. It was going to be us and them every year, and both of us were going to the playoffs.
“But it’s not that way anymore. It’s not easy to get to the title game, so we’ve got to do a solid job in the regular season of getting a decent seed in the tournament. I feel like we’ll have to pull an upset to get to the playoffs.”