The East Marion Eagles (3-2, 0-1) lost their district opener last week and have been using the loss as a teaching tool moving forward.
The Eagles hosted Lumberton March 13 and lost 10-0 in a run-rule shortened five-inning game. Devin Daniels went the distance on the mound, allowing six earned runs on nine hits and three walks, but it was East Marion’s offense that hindered the Eagles. Vashon Sims was the only East Marion player to get a hit, connecting for two singles, and the Eagles struck out nine times as a team.
They have struggled with their two-strike approach at the plate and often watch third strikes, which has led to head coach Mandell Echols proactively altering their batting practice. Since the Lumberton game, East Marion players have stepped up to the plate in simulated games facing a full count with three balls and two strikes, and if they watch a third strike they don’t get another opportunity to swing the bat, just like in a real game.
“After the first round of them standing there watching it and striking out, they were saying ‘Coach, we want to hit.’ I told them they have to be ready to swing their bat. They got to where they were pretty aggressive,” he said. “(Monday) we practiced and did the same thing, working on two-strike approach.”
Another area East Marion struggled in against Lumberton was on defense, making several errors and turning would-be outs into hits.
“They have to understand every pitch counts instead of being ready in certain situations. They need to be ready every pitch, and that’s what we’ve been preaching the last couple of days,” Echols said. “Then we’ve had a couple of distractions before the game. Kids having some issues with girlfriend problems, arguing before the game. Before the game they need to forget about all the outside stuff and just concentrate on ball.”
Echols said his four-man rotation of Daniels, Sims, Joseph Lefebvre and JaQuarius Jones has been pitching extremely well, but it’s up to the defense to help them out.
“Between those four guys we’ve had less walks than we’ve ever had. We were averaging 10 a game (last season), and all together this year we have (18) walks in five games,” he said. “All we’ve done in the offseason is preach getting ahead, staying ahead and doing your job. The pitcher’s job is to throw strikes, and the fielders’ job is to make plays. We’ve told them instead of trying to get strikeouts, let them put it in play. You can’t defend a walk. They’ve bought in to it and have been throwing strikes.”
The Eagles were scheduled to play at Lumberton Friday night and Jefferson Davis County Saturday morning, but both games were rained out. The game against Lumberton will be rescheduled, but a date has not been set yet, and the Jeff Davis game will not be rescheduled.
They played Resurrection Catholic in Pascagoula Tuesday night, but results were unavailable at press time. They will play host to Resurrection Thursday night at 7.
Pictured Above: East Marion left fielder Elijah Brown launches a fly ball to deep right field. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
