Manning – The Laurence Manning Academy baseball team is off to a 6-3 start, but head coach Barry Hatfield sees plenty of room for improvement, especially at the plate.
“We are struggling offensively,” said Hatfield, the veteran head coach. “I’m not really surprised. We struggled last year offensively. There are some players that I felt like are pretty good hitters who have been struggling for whatever reason. We’re not as explosive offensively as we can be.”
The Swampcats have some players with impressive batting averages. Senior Nathaniel Hawthorne is batting well over 400 as is shortstop Tyler June, the switch hitter who is playing baseball at LMA in his senior year after having transferred for his junior season.
“Tyler June is hitting the ball well over .400,” Hatfield said of the University of South Carolina signee.
June is third in the batting order while Hawthorne is batting cleanup. Senior Bryson Smith is the leadoff hitter with junior BJ Balls batting in the 2 hole. The left-handed swinging Balls transferred to Laurence Manning from Lakewood High School.
Senior Chapell Brogdon is batting fifth. Seniors Ian Harris and Wyatt Powell are splitting time in left field and are in the 6 hole, while senior Bryson Hodge and junior Rory Carter share right and the seventh spot in the order.
Rounding out the order are freshman second baseman Grainger Powell and sophomore third baseman Payton Brown.
LMA has a lot of speed, according to Hatfield, and it has to be able to take advantage of it.
“We need to get the ball in play a lot more,” he said. “We need to have defenses dealing with the speed factor. We need to put a lot of pressure on defense.”
The Swampcats lost staff ace Henry Durant as well as twins Cameron Baker and Clayton Baker from last year’s team that went 14-8 and made the SCISA AAAA state playoffs. However, Hatfield has been pleased with what he’s gotten from his pitching staff.
“Our pitchers have done a very good job,” Hatfield said. “They’ve all stepped up really well. We kind of identified that as a weakness going into the season, but they've performed well.”
LMA has been successful despite junior Drew Ferriell, expected to be the ace, being limited. The right-hander has a torn labrum and has been limited to 70 pitches once a week.
Hodge, senior Walker Smith, sophomore Braydon Barnhill, junior closer Seth Witherspoon and junior lefties Cole Hawthorne and Carter are all seeing innings.
“Bryson Hodge didn't throw a whole lot last year, but he’s been the star of the season so far,” Hatfield said of the senior righty, who has an earned run average under 1.00. “Braydon Barnhill stepped up into the rotation. Walker Smith has two wins. We’re shallow on numbers for how I like to have it, but we’ve done a good job.”
Hatfield said the defensive play of his team has been an obvious help to the pitching staff. Having June at shortstop took pressure off the underclassmen Powell and Brown on the infield. Balls is a standout defensive first baseman.
“We’re defensively sound,” Hatfield said. “Our defense is extremely good Ground balls to the infield are going to be outs. That’s a huge help.”
Brogdon is catching while Smith, who played second last season, is in center.
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