LAURINBURG — This year’s Scotland High baseball roster includes many of the players who turned an 0-4 start into a Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament championship last season.
Scotland coach Chad Hill said his team’s potential is “very exciting.”
“We’ve got a lot of guys back from last year that played key roles when they were a little bit younger,” he said. “Now they’ve got one or two years of varsity under their belt. So we’re fully expecting them to take a big step from last year.
“They understand our approaches and our drills,” Hill added, “They’re able to help the young guys, and there’s not a lot of introduction needed. It’s more of, let’s get in it and dive a little deeper. Our depth has been able to go a little deeper when we’re hitting because of their understanding of what we want, and because of their understanding of what varsity pitching in the conference is like.”
The Fighting Scots will be led by a talented group of upperclassmen this year. Four of the team’s top-five batters from last season are returning this year. At the top of that group is junior outfielder Stewart Evans, who led the team in batting average (.403), on-base percentage (.469), slugging percentage (.600), stolen bases (22) and RBI (17).
Also returning is senior outfielder Matt Sellers, Scotland’s leader in extra-base hits (nine) last season. Sellers hit .316 at the plate and stole nine bases last season, putting him in a tie with Nick Callahan for second-most on the team.
Callahan, a senior infielder who recently signed with East Carolina’s football program, finished just behind Evans with 15 RBI last year. Callahan joined Evans and senior Austin Norton — who now plays junior college baseball at Fayetteville Tech — as one of the three Scots who hit two home runs. Callahan posted a .294 batting average.
Callahan is joined in the infield by sophomore shortstop Parker Byrd, who announced his commitment to play baseball at East Carolina before his high school career started. Byrd batted .283 last season, and he led the Scots in runs scored with 20. Byrd helped turn seven double-plays as a freshman. Byrd and Norton drew 12 walks apiece last year, the highest mark on the team.
“I think we’re going to swing the bat a lot better, one through nine,” Hill said. “There’s some guys who’ll probably hit at the bottom of the lineup, who in previous year might have hit more toward the middle (of the lineup). We also have a lot of players that can play versatile roles.
“You may see one guy play for four innings and get a couple at-bats, and then the next one or two at-bats might be someone else. It’s not that they’re doing anything bad, it just might be that we can throw a different spin at them. Maybe one guy bunts better, and the other guy hits and runs. We’re a little more privileged with some depth this year.”
Senior Michael Johnson is expected to reprise his role at the top of Scotland’s pitching rotation, but he’ll miss some time early in the season while he recovers from an injury to his non-throwing hand. Johnson posted a 2.75 ERA and a 4-3 record in 48.1 innings of work last season.
“We’re anticipating on when Michael might be back,” Hill said. “Obviously that’s a big loss, but the guys have been working hard, and they know that one guy can’t fill his shoes. But collectively we can try to get some outs that normally he would’ve been getting for us.”
Several of Scotland’s position players have considerable varsity pitching experience. Byrd, Evans, Sellers, Tyler Barfield, Jackson Purcell and Lane Roberson were some of the most frequently used pitchers behind Johnson.
Some new faces could make appearances this year.
“Jackson Sellers threw a ton for the jayvees and did a great job,” Hill said. “Christian Cole is going to throw some for us, and he’s also going to catch some for us. And Titus (Jones) found outs last year.
“At the end of the day, if you’re throwing strikes you’ve got a chance to get outs.”
Freshman Alex Hatcher will also pitch for the Scots.
The Scots have a difficult non-conference schedule this year. They’ll open the season by visiting perennial 2A power Whiteville on Wednesday. The Scots will host Wilmington schools Laney and Ashley in a doubleheader on March 7; both of those teams defeated Scotland last season.
“Our non-conference schedule and our conference are pretty tough, so you may look at our stats and not see a big difference in the numbers,” Hill said. “But in-play and hard-hit balls, we’re fully expecting those numbers to go up.”
Evans aims for another big year
After his standout sophomore season, Stewart Evans is ready to put up more impressive numbers this year. He’s also ready to help the Scots make a push for back-to-back conference titles — and a run past the first round of the state playoffs, which is where their season ended last year.
“I think this year we have a better opportunity at the plate since we have more bats,” Evans said. “It seems like we’ve been hitting the ball a lot better in batting practice.”
Evans was an all-conference selection last year, along with Callahan, Johnson and Sellers. Evans hit the ball exceptionally well, which he attributed to a pregame ritual in which he prepares himself to track moving baseballs.
Evans is primed to have a strong junior year. He likes how the team has come together in the preseason, and he echoed Hill’s thoughts about having experienced varsity players on the roster.
“There’s a lot of people that know what they’re doing,” Evans said. “It’s easier to get things moving in practice. Hopefully it’ll carry over to the game.”
