Wildcats try to stay alive at Wilcox County

Chris Whitaker

May 08, 2008 09:42 pm

— ELLAVILLE — A lot of times teams enter the postseason without a lot of knowledge about their opponents.
That’s not the case for Schley County. The Wildcats know their opponent — Wilcox County — all too well.
They lost two heartbreaking one-run games to the Patriots and will open the Class A playoffs today in Rochelle.
The Wildcats (18-7) were in a fight for the top seed up to the last day of the regular season. but a loss at Brookstone dropped them to third place.
According to Cheek, many thought Schley County wouldn’t be in this position after losing eight starters.
“We had a quiet optimism about this year,” he said. “Most people didn’t give us a chance to do much, but we tied for second in the region. We’re the only team to beat the region champs. That’s not a bad year after what we lost last year. I’m very proud of our players, but hopefully we’ve still got a lot of baseball ahead of us.”
If not for a slip-up here or there, the Wildcats could be 20-game winners again this season. Schley lost to Brookstone 4-2 and 6-5, Crisp County 8-5, and 6-5 and 4-3 decisions to Wilcox County (13-8).
Three errors helped Wilcox win in the first meeting, and a bad bounce in the outfield along with nine walks and two errors helpe the Patriots win on May 2, despite having one hit in the game.
Cheek said those mistakes can’t happen today if they want to advance.
“Teams can make statements that they lost due to walks or errors and try to give an excuse or reason why they lost,” he said. “The bottom line is that good teams don’t make mistakes and they take advantage of mistakes by their opponent. We had a chance to win both games, but we didn’t because we made the most mistakes.”
Schley County had four players make First Team in Region 4-A, including Pitcher of the Year David Byrd. Byrd has a 6-2 record with a 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio on the season. His bat has been a big lift, hitting .355 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in the clean-up spot.
But it’s been the three in front of him where the Wildcats’ offense begin and end. Jesse Colter’s batting .338 with 10 extra-base hits, Jonathon Deriso’s hitting .432 with 23 runs scored and Will Gordon has a .429 average with 28 RBIs and seven doubles.
“I feel like (Colter and Deriso) are successful because they are aggressive at the plate and have a lot of confidence when they go up there,” said Cheek. “They believe they are going to get a hit every at-bat and that’s half the battle.
“This is the year we really thought Will was going to have last year. He performs well under pressure, and he knew he was going to have to lead us at the plate. He hits the bal to all parts of the field and really loves to go to right center. He’s the player every coach wants on their team.”
Throw in Tyler Tondee’s five homers and 22 RBIs, the Wildcats have a formidable five-some at the plate.
Cheek said haven’t made a decision on who will be starting the games, but it’s between Byrd, Colter and Christopher “Spud” Tondee. Tondee is 6-1 with a 4.78 ERA on the season as was Second Team All 4-A.
“I think the biggest thing for Spud is that he pounds the strike zone,” said Cheek. “He doesn’t walk many batters, and he relies on his defense to make plays behind him. He’s pitched well in games fo rus, and we have a ton of confidence in him when he’s on the (mound).”
The Wildcats have reached at least the state quarterfinals each of the last three years. Cheek said for them to have that same success this season, the will have to get some output from the bottom of the batting order and big innings from Colter and Chad Crook.
“I think we are as ready as we can be,” he said. “We drew a team we’ve lost twice to this season, but I know our guys believe they can compete with them. We’ve been a week without playing and the last time we were on the field we had just lost home field in the playoffs. I think they are ready to get out there and prove something.”
Game times are 5 and 8 p.m. Game 3, if necessary will be 4 p.m. Saturday.

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