Lakewood’s JV baseball team’s main effort is preparing their players to be prepared at the next level. It has been an up and down year so far, record wise for the Leopards, as they are led by first-year coaches Chase Larue and Austin Tanner.
The Leopards are sitting at 3-2 on the year thus far and are 1-1 in conference play.
“Coach Larue and I are very pleased with the progress and how our boys are playing so far this year,” said Tanner. “We have another conference game this week, and are interested to see how our boys will play after a little break from playing. A good thing is, it is still early, and we are sitting at second place in the conference standings. We can win the conference for sure if we continue to play the way we have.”
Tanner went on to praise the intelligence of he and Larue’s players, and noted that that was a very important aspect of the game.
“Our boys are very intelligent,” he said. “They know the game very well. They still have a lot to learn, and that’s hopefully where we as coaches can come in and help them out in a big way. The thing I love about the team is that they are playing hard and are so willing to listen and learn. That’s really all Coach Larue and myself can ask for. I am excited to see what is in store for us for the rest of the season.”
The Lakewood JV coaching staff has tried to really stress to their team that playing the game itself is really no different at the next level in the concrete aspects of the game. There are still 7 innings, 3 outs each inning, and fielding, pitching and defense are obviously all required to be successful.
“The game itself is really no different,” continued Tanner. “We as coaches are just trying to stress the importance of certain situations and how important it is to them know what to do and when to do it. They are a talented bunch, and they’ll get it together.”