By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Last spring was a welcome change of pace for the Carthage baseball team.
The Tigers went 16-11 to earn their first winning season since 2014 and head coach Mike Godfrey said it could have been even better.
“We had some pretty good pitching last spring and then really had a few games get away from us,” he said. “I thought we could have easily won 20. It was kind of up and down as far as scoring runs, that was our challenge. We’d get some real good pitching outings and then only score a couple runs at times. It was a good year.”
Carthage allowed three or fewer runs in 14 games and went 12-2 in those outings. The Tigers won eight in a row in March and April but then won consecutive games just one time in their final 16 contests.
The Tigers return four starters from that team but must replace some big losses like Trason Vogt, a left-handed pitcher than earned first-team all-conference honors in the Central Ozark Conference.
“He’s one of those guys who’s a true ace,” Godfrey said. “We don’t get that every year. It was nice to have him for three or four years on the mound and he was a conference player of the year last year. He was dominant on the mound and had a great year offensively.”
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Vogt batted in the middle of the lineup and led the team with a .478 average and an OPS of 1.340. He had six doubles, four triples and two home runs, scored 21 runs and drew 13 walks.
Ian O’Malley, a first team All-COC outfielder, is another key loss. He was a .430 hitter who had 12 doubles, 25 RBI’s and 17 walks.
The four returning starters are junior Kaden Kralicek at shortstop, senior Tanner Green at first base, junior Will McCombs at catcher and left field and senior Kale Schrader at third base and pitcher.
“Kale had a really good year offensively for us,” Godfrey said. “The other three just did okay and I really look for their offensive production to really make a nice jump and them be really productive for us. They had good summers, they’ve had good preseasons and with their confidence, size and strength they’ve all made good gains.”
Schrader batted .365 last spring with six doubles, a triple and a home run to go along with 17 RBI’s. He’s been a standout athlete in football and wrestling for the Tigers. He was a first team All-State linebacker in Class 5 for the state champion Tigers and won a state wrestling title as a junior.
Kralicek hit .263 last spring and scored 15 runs. Green was a .277 hitter with 15 RBI’s and 13 walks and McCombs batted .256.
“I think we’ve got a chance to be stronger offensively,” Godfrey said. “We might not have the couple real special guys but I think overall we’re going to be stronger.”
Those four players will each be asked to pitch, as well.
Godfrey still has to figure out the rest of the starting lineup but a number of players are expected to be in the mix.
Sophomore Caden Kabance lettered as a freshman, mainly as a runner, but could play on the infield and pitch. Senior Alex Smith could serve as a utility player. Junior Grant Collier got a handful of starts last year and should see time in the outfield. Junior Mason Utter could earn a spot in the starting rotation.
Three other sophomores will compete for playing time, too. Kaden Arr is an outfielder and pitcher, Nate Norbury is an outfielder and catcher and Silas Browning is a catcher, pitcher and infielder.
“We’ve got a lot of arms,” Godfrey said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have been getting preseason work in on the mound and those are big question marks because we lost pretty much 90 percent of our innings pitched from last year’s team. So those are our big question marks, who’s going to rise to the top and be a varsity pitcher, what roles are they going to fill and then a couple outfield spots being wide open.”
Godfrey expects the Tigers to be solid defensively on the infield and said the overall team speed will be better and he expects the team to score more runs.
“I just feel like this team’s going to be a fun team to coach,” he said. “They really enjoy working and preparing at the game and each other. They’ve already been fun to be around and there’s some buy-in early.”
