Camden baseball team counting on pitching depth

Camden – Denny Beckley is in his 25^th season as the baseball head coach at Camden High School. He guided the Bulldogs to the state playoffs in 21 of the 24 seasons, and it appears he has them headed in that direction this season.

CHS made the AAA state playoffs last season after finishing second in Region 6. Camden is off to a 7-3 start this year and is 1-0 in region play.

“Region 6-AAA has been extremely competitive for the last several years and is expected to be so again this spring,” said Beckley, whose team was 16-13 overall and finished second to Lake City in the region. “The Dogs have been working very hard in the offseason and can’t wait to get started this spring to fight for another season to remember.”

Beckley said the majority of success Camden will enjoy will come from how it performs on the mound.

“The pitching staff will be leaned on very heavily for the team this spring,” said Beckley, who has three of his top four pitchers returning.

 The top two starting pitchers are seniors, right-hander Byer Ware and left-hander Campbell Denton. Ware was 6-3 with a 2.62 earned run average, while Denton was 3-4 with a 3.57 ERA.

Junior righty Zechariah Haney returns as well. He was 1-1 with three saves and a 3.11 ERA while serving as the closer. Beckley said  Haney might get some starts this season.

Another who will likely see time on the mound is junior Cade Marturano, who got some playoff pitching experience after being called up from the junior varsity. Others who are likely to throw some innings are seniors Aidan Heriot, Camden Washington, Kade Bell and Shiver Huggins, juniors Charlie Ray, Chris Evan and Brian Elliott and sophomore Mac Mellichamp.

“All of these players have pitched at some point in their high school careers for the Bulldogs, so it will be interesting to see if they can develop roles for this season,” Beckley said.

               The Bulldogs will be strong up the middle defensively. Bell, who has signed to play collegiately with St. Andrew’s, is back starting at shortstop. Heriot is back as the starting centerfielder.

               Haney will be starting behind the plate and will be spelled by Mellichamp when pitching. The junior has already started getting some college looks. Freshman Brady Furniss is expected to be the starter at second base.

               When not pitching, Ware will see playing time at both third base and first base. Also competing for time at first base are Washington, junior Chandler Johnson and Marturano. Junior Brian Elliott and sophomore Thomas Bishop are possibilities at third.

              Huggins will start in right after missing last season due to an injury. He started in center as a sophomore. Denton, Ray and Evan are competing for time in the outfield along with juniors Wyatt Thompson and Logan Freeman.

The Bulldogs are having to replace two key cogs in last year’s offense in All-State performer Patrick Daniels and Davis Beckley. However, Coach Beckley is excited about the offense.

 “The Dogs have a lot of potential offensively this spring,” the veteran head coach said.

Haney, Ware and Huggins are in the third, fourth and fifth spots in the batting order. Haney is the top returning hitter for average as he hit .325 and also had 18 runs batted in. Ware rotated in the 4 and 5 holes last season.

Bell and Heriot are getting the shots at the two spots at the top of the order. Heriot hit .286 and had 19 stolen bases. Denton is expected to be a steady stick in the order.