By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
There will be a new face in the Plato dugout this Spring, as Christian Mathews takes over for longtime coach Mark Vaughan.
The Eagles finished 19-6 in 2018, falling in the district final to Hartville.
Plato loses a key pair of graduated seniors this season in Wiley Miller and K.J. Stafford.
Miller, an all-state selection, will continue his baseball career at Drury University, while Stafford moves on to play at Missouri Valley College.
With a fall season under his belt, Mathews believes his team will be well prepared for the Spring.
“We have a lot of very talented seniors with very high expectations of themselves and the team,” Mathews said. “A big challenge that we faced this fall was getting to know each other since this is my first season as the head coach at Plato.”
Key returnees for Plato include pitcher/outfielder Caeden Hathaway, pitcher/catcher Jack Morrison, infielder/pitcher Marshall Pittman, outfielder Andrew Hoover, infielder/pitcher Matt Daniels, infielder Josh Metro and infielder/pitcher Hayden Smith.
Morrison, Daniels, Hathaway and Smith will anchor a pitching staff that Mathews believes will keep the Eagles competitive this season.
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“Our pitching staff is solid with four guys we used this fall returning this spring,” Mathews said. “The key factors that are going to help us the most on the mound this year is locating the fastball as well as pitching to contact to allow our starter to go deeper into the games. We are okay at this position as far as depth goes, we have four guys that we a comfortable putting on the mound for varsity play that can get the job done.”
Mathews feels his team’s defense will once again be a strength heading into the spring.
“Our biggest strength is our defense which, this fall, allowed us to stay in games until the offense had time to figure out the opposing pitcher,” Mathews said. “Our lineup is looking strong coming into the spring, as we have a bunch of seniors up and down our lineup, and we had some young guys get experience this fall that will help them be ready for spring,”
For Plato to compete in the always-competitive Frisco league and make another run at a district title, it will have to face a challenging schedule.
Mathews has high expectations for his squad.
“The expectations for this season is to win districts, which is going to be tough because we have to face a lot of really good teams,” Mathews said. “I see this year’s team fitting in well we were competitive with the top teams in the conference this fall as well with some that are in our district that we will play this spring.”
Plato opens its season March 21 at Iberia.
