As we were working on our first-ever Baseball and Softball Preview, which came out in last week’s edition, I was at Columbia Academy taking pictures of a few of the Cougars’ key players. As I was walking towards the outfield wall with Preston Sauls, that old familiar scent of fresh cut grass in the spring wafted through the air, and it hit me that baseball was back.
And boy is it ever. The 2023 season started with a bang as rivals Columbia and West Marion squared off on back-to-back nights with both games being decided by one run on the final pitch of the game. Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script for that series, at least as far as Wildcat and general baseball fans are concerned, as Columbia eked out both wins in exciting fashion.
This is my seventh baseball season here in Marion County, and I have been treated to quite a lot of amazing moments. From countless state and World Series championships for little league All-Star teams, some incredible series between the Trojans and Wildcats, the upstart Eagles who have slowly built a winner, Columbia Academy’s record-breaking 2017 title run and a host of great players, Marion County has been a little slice of heaven for someone like me who can’t get enough of America’s favorite pastime.
But after the first week of the season, I think it’s possible we could reach uncharted territory here in 2023. As great as the baseball has been here at the high school level, there has been typically one team that stands above the rest and easily makes it further in the postseason than the other three teams in the county each year. Let me preface this by saying this is not hometown bias or hyperbole, but I truly believe all four teams could win playoff series this season and we could have three teams in contention for a state title by year’s end.
Columbia Academy has a ridiculous amount of young talent in its eighth and ninth-grade classes, and several of those players are already dominating at the high school level. But the Cougars couple that exceptionally talented youth with a great senior class — a combination that many coaches would envy. They absolutely have the pitching and the bats to go all the way. Head coach Keith Stanley said team chemistry is the biggest determining factor in how this season will play out for his team, and if these Cougars find that, the sky is absolutely the limit.
Going into the season, I was a little skeptical about Columbia, but that was before I knew just how good its freshman center fielder is. Mac McDaniel is a superstar right now, and he’s only played three varsity games. The Wildcats have the arms on the mound and good defense, but what McDaniel adds to the lineup is incalculable. Between McDaniel, Dylan Wallace, Eli Lowery, Naji Cain and more, there’s no reason they can’t get hot and make a title run.
For years, West Marion has had some of the best arms in Class 3A, and this year is no different with Kolby Stringer, Jude Stringer, Trace McDonald, Nik Carney and more each being capable of shutting down an opposing lineup. There are two things the Trojans must address before they can compete at the top of the 3A, though: limiting walks (27 through 20 1/3 innings) and delivering extra-base hits (three in three games). If they can start throwing more strikes and find some more barrels, the potential is there.
East Marion baseball remains on the rise, too. The Eagles were really good last season and reached the playoffs, and they are only going to get better with the return of LJ Andrews. But it would take serious leaps forward with their pitching and defense for them to contend for a state title in Class 2A. Regardless, they should be even better in 2023 and could easily win a series or two in the postseason.
I know this is some high praise after just one week, but I’m now at the point where I’ve seen a lot of these players make their way up through little league and reach the varsity level. There’s a reason so many state titles have been won at the little league level in Columbia — it is truly a baseball hotbed.
Joshua Campbell is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him via email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com or call (601) 736-2611.
