By Shelley Ebbrecht/For OzarksSportsZone.com
After filling a roster with young players the past few seasons, the Skyline Tigers are all grown up for the 2017 spring baseball season. Head coach Brett Bybee said the experience and maturity of this year’s squad will be a major strength for the team.
“We have been young for the last two years and we think this is the year our juniors begin to show the fruits of their labors of seeing significant playing time as freshmen and sophomores,” Bybee said. “We don’t have any seniors this year, but we have a strong group of juniors and sophomores.”
Skyline ended last season 14-15 overall after losing to Lincoln in the district tournament semifinals. Bybee will be leading the Tigers for his fifth year and said the team has been putting in the time in the offseason to improve on last year’s mark.
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“We have kids working hard,” he said. “Many have been taking batting and pitching lessons during the offseason and the batting cages have had kids in there working on their own.”
The team welcomes back junior first basemen Mason Lile who led the team in batting average (.476), hits (40), doubles (12) and RBIs (33). Lile was named all-conference second team as an infielder and honorable mention in Pitching.
Fellow junior Shane Crawford will take his place in centerfield for the Tigers. He hit .398 in his sophomore campaign and led the team with 12 stolen bases to earn honorable mention all-conference.
Brant Gideon is the third returning junior to the team. He was named honorable mention all-district and all-conference as a pitcher and infielder. He hit .371 and had the best pitching record for Skyline, going 6-3.
Sophomores Paden Hodges and Trevor Russell round out the returning lettermen. Hodges hit .341 last season as third basemen and went 4-3 on the mound. Russell plays infield and outfield, hit .316 as a freshman and will also be expected to pitch this year.
“We have a hard-working team that is going to give you everything they have,” said Bybee. “At the plate, we look for them to not just battle but to hit it hard. Our pitching staff is very deep and defensively we should be very solid and cover a lot of ground.”
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Skyline lost three players to graduation. Kyler Bybee was last year’s run leader with 36 and 5 triples. Bybee said his consistent bat will be missed in the lineup. He also said Caleb McGrady’s defensive presence behind the plate will be felt by the pitching staff and Austin Crawford played solid outfield and is currently playing at Graceland University.
Eight freshmen will be battling to fill their shoes, along with several underclassmen. Bobby Williams and Zane Salley are looking for time in the outfield while Tommy Montgomery and Zach McClurg are also looking to make an impact. Bryndon Carter saw time on last year’s squad with a 1-2 pitching record and will appear on the infield for the Tigers this season.
The Baseball Tigers will kick off their season with the home opener against Russellville Friday, March 17.
