Experience, coaching highlights month for Faith Academy baseball
CAPTION: Spencer Kenney competed well before a suffering a season-ending injury that coaches believe happened before the start of the baseball season. Courtesy photo
The Faith Academy of Marble Falls baseball team is 2-2 in District 3-3A play of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
The team has 13 players including senior Carter Fromberg and junior Sawyer Jones. The others are sophomores Braxton Blair, Wade Dillard, Austin Ellis, Cooper Hansard, Spencer Kenney, Ben Kosoglow, Nixon Little, Logan Norton, Price Rosamond, Hudson Russell and Michael Wenzel.
“They’re not intimidated,” the coach said. “They’ve been playing varsity baseball. We really have two teams; a team of experienced players and the others are learning. They’re doing well.”
The squad was waiting for five players to finish their commitment to basketball, which happened in late February.
The big freeze in early March took a tournament away from the Flames and another contest was canceled because of the flu. So the team has been learning while playing in games as Ellis is doing his best to lessen the learning curve.
The Flames rely on three pitchers – Blair, who has a 1.2 ERA, Austin Ellis and Dillard. The three combine for a 2.0 ERA.
“My pitchers are more advanced than your average sophomores,” the coach said. “If they are shaking off signs because of some command issue, they’ll call a timeout. That’s an example of how they work with (catcher Fromberg).”
Fromberg does a great job performing the tasks that his position calls for, Ellis said. Among them is calling a timeout to talk to the pitcher, especially if the two can’t agree on a specific pitch, and then calling for a back-pick play.
“We had one game where we had six,” Ellis said of the play. “Carter is a grown man, he’s fearless. He brings a football player’s mentality behind the plate. He’s the enforcer. Him and the pitchers get along great. “
He noted that with some inexperienced players, the Flames get a two-for-one situation as he can work with the defense to perfect the back-pick plays and work with the baserunners to teach them not to get picked off the bases.
“We can get super aggressive,” he said. “Our infield and more experienced players are getting a lot.”
Kenney suffered a season-ending injury that he wasn’t quite sure when it happened, though it wasn’t in baseball. Ellis noted the youngster’s pain tolerance is pretty high.
“He’s probably the most dedicated player on the team,” the coach said. “Everybody was shocked. He played through pain and is extremely toughIt’s a major shock to our team.”
The Flames travel to play at San Antonio Lutheran at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, and host Lutheran at 3 p.m. Friday, April 4, at the YMCA of the Highland Lakes in Burnet.
