Polk County baseball coach Ty Stott is on a mission – and he thinks he’s got the resources in place to make it a successful one.
Accustomed to residing in the upper echelon of the Western Highlands Conference, Polk County has spent the last two seasons closer to the middle of the league pack. But as the 2016 season opener approaches Monday at East Rutherford, Stott thinks a return to the top could be on the docket for the Wolverines.
As usually is the case with contending squads, pitching is fueling the optimism.
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“This team has a lot of potential,” Stott said. “If our pitching stays healthy, it will be the best pitching staff we have had in five years. We have three pitchers that are capable of pitching conference games and a few others that can get some outs in relief.
“We plan to be in the run for a conference championship. We remind our kids that from 2007 to 2013 we finished first or second each year, and the last two years have been down years, and they are in the past. The last two years, our top two pitchers have been sidelined with injury for around half of the season, and our staff has trouble coming back from that. If our three pitchers stay healthy, we will keep the score down and have a chance to compete.”
Polk County finished 9-13 a year ago, a 2-0 loss to West Davidson in the opening round of the state 2A playoffs typically of a number of close losses for the squad. Wolverine senior pitcher Daniel Painter tossed a five-hitter in that loss, striking out five and retiring the last eight batters he faced, and he is expected to lead this year’s rotation.
“Daniel Painter is our ace and can beat anybody on the schedule,” Stott said. “We have Tyler Harris starting the season as our number two starter on the mound. The number three spot is down to a few arms and not decided yet.
“The strengths (of the roster) are experience, depth of position players – we have 12 players competing for the eight starting positions, not counting pitcher – and talent on the mound.”
The Wolverines struggled to score runs on occasion last season and lost top hitter Mark Mazzilli to graduation. But Stott thinks the 2016 Polk offense will be able to manufacture more runs than a year ago.
“With the modern day bats being similar or worse than the traditional wood bats, we will probably always play small ball,” Stott said. “We have worked on that type of thing this year more than any other year.
“It takes an unselfish team to play small ball and this year’s team has a lot of potential in that area.”
Polk County begins its season with a three-game road trip before returning home to host Pisgah on March 8 in the home season opener. The Wolverines begin WHC play on March 11 at Madison.
