Scotland baseball seniors (from left to right) Alex Hatcher, Blane Wagner, Cadyn Graves, Eli McCoy, Luke Taylor, Dylan Tucker, Turner Bounds, and Micah Clark all pose for a picture. The Scotland baseball season kicks off on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. against Purnell Swett at home.
Contributed photo
LAURINBURG — After a season in which they went 19-6 overall and finished second in the Sandhills Athletic Conference at 10-2, the Scotland High School baseball team will look a little different this season.
With former head coach Greg Wrape leaving to take the head coaching position at West Brunswick High School in Shallotte, Ricky Schattauer, who’s been an assistant coach with the team for the past two seasons, takes over for his first season as head coach.
Shattauer didn’t waste time getting to work when he was hired in August 2022 either, as he spoke with the returning players in the fall about what they see the team accomplishing this year.
“I sat down with the returners in the fall…and their realistic finish for us, a lot of them said third place,” Schattauer said. “They felt like we were going to be behind Pinecrest and they felt like we were gonna be behind Lee County. So, after they finished their questions, I told them that I see us finishing realistically second and, then, it’s gonna come down to how bad we want it.”
Pinecrest has finished at the top of the SAC for the last five seasons, including the COVID-19 year, where they went 4-0 in conference play.
Schattauer expects Pinecrest to be competitive once again this year, but thinks his team can give them a run for the top spot in the SAC.
“Pinecrest is gonna generally be at the top,” Schattauer said. “I feel like if we can compete and we can stay focused, that we will finish second, or first really in the 3A. The things that have happened this past year with kids leaving and going to Pinecrest, I think there’s a little bit of tension leading into (the) Pinecrest (games), which I think could be good if we can stay focused.”
Scotland had two key players from last year transfer to Pinecrest during the offseason in Bryant Kimbrell and Hunter Huneycutt. Kimbrell was a third baseman and pitcher for the Scots, while Huneycutt played catcher, shortstop, and pitcher.
The Scots also lost six seniors from last season’s team in Parker Byrd, Miles Byrd, Christian Cole, Nick Cooke, Bryant Grubbs, and Hogan Hyatt.
However, the Scots have eight guys returning to the team this year in first baseman Turner Bounds, second baseman Luke Taylor, third basemen Micah Clark and Blane Wagner, catcher Eli McCoy, outfielders Cadyn Graves and Alex Hatcher, and pitcher Dylan Tucker. All eight are in their senior year.
Two guys that Schattauer believes will have big roles are Bounds and Wagner.
Schattauer feels Bounds will be essential for the team in his secondary position — pitcher.
“I see Turner Bounds taking (the) place of the two arms we lost between Parker (Byrd) and Kimbrell,” Schattauer said. “I think he (Bounds) threw our midweek games last year, so I see him picking up the slack of those two.”
Wagner, who also plays pitcher in his secondary role, has had a lot of improvement during the offseason as an arm and could see opportunities open up for him this season.
“Blane Wagner has impressed me throughout the fall so far into the spring,” Schattauer said. “He didn’t throw for us for the last three years and this is his senior year, and he threw it really well in (last) Saturday’s scrimmage (against North Brunswick and Heide Trask).”
With plenty of holes to fill on the team this year, some new faces will get to see field this season.
One of them, sophomore Garrett Manning, will take the place of Parker Byrd at shortstop.
“He’s gonna play shortstop and he has some big shoes to fill because Parker left, and has graduated,” Schattauer said. “But, him being young, he sat there as a freshman behind Parker (and) Parker talked to him a lot. That was my big thing with Parker last year, was ‘hey, this is your last year, so take someone underneath your wing and kind of run with them;’ Garrett Manning was that guy.”
Freshman Dawson Williams will also see the field, most likely as a utility player, as he’s impressed Schattauer with his versatility at multiple positions.
“I don’t have a position for him yet, with him being a ninth grader, (but) he’s gonna play,” Schattauer said. “He has a really strong bat. He can play the outfield, he can play the infield, he also pitches. I see him being a key guy for us, as well.”
With a ton of potential on this year’s squad, Schattauer explained what the strength of this year’s team will be and what he thinks of it as a whole.
“I think we have an extremely athletic team,” Schattauer said. “I don’t think, between our outfielders, there should be a fly ball that drops. We are very fast, we’re very smart, so we try to take base running to the next level. We even have the guys that you wouldn’t think are gonna run on the bases, they are actually a threat on the base paths, as well; teaching them these new things that me and my coaching staff have implemented.”
The Scots host the Purnell Swett Rams in their season opener on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. in a nonconference game.
Reach Brandon Hodge at bhodge@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BrandonHSports.