BB: Dragons could be on the rise again in 2011
That team should be a force in Class 1A next season as the Dragons drop
down a classification. (Photo by John Krueger)
Could it be that the 2010 baseball season for the Shelbyville Dragons was nothing more than a sneak preview of things to come? With only one senior in the starting lineup, the Dragons withstood the test of a tough non-district schedule and somehow - someway - surged to the District 22-2A championship and a trip three rounds deep in the State high school playoffs.
Despite only posting an 11-17-2 overall mark in 2010, the Dragons won the league games they had to post a 9-2 league mark, including a one-game playoff with Hemphill that gave Shelbyville the not only a share of the championship with the Hornets but a first-round postseason bye.
Shelbyville topped Anahuac 7-4 in the Area round of the Class 2A playoffs before being swept 7-2, 13-2 by Corrigan-Camden in the Regional Quarterfinals. But what could be the key to this SHS squad is the game experience and postseason work the team received as they prepare to drop to Class 1A Division I next season.
"We have a lot of young guys coming back and that's why I tried to get some of the young players in there during the [Corrigan-Camden] series," said Dragon Head Coach Mike Innerarity after the season. "I wanted to give them at least a taste of what they can expect next season. We'll also be dropping down to 1A next year and having pretty much everybody back should be a huge advantage for us."
Despite the deep run in the playoffs, it wasn't an easy ride for Shelbyville in 2010. The Dragons entered district play with a dismal 1-11-2 record, but they made the best of their experience will excellent play in district.
On the year, junior Tyler Adams led the team in hitting with a .341 batting average. He tied for first in runs scored (26), was second in RBI with 18, second in doubles with eight, while connecting with a triple and a pair of home runs.
Brad Estes, another junior this past season, has been a starter on varsity since his freshman year. He hit .322 in 2010, with 26 runs scored, drove in 12 runs from his lead-off spot in the lineup, while picking up a triple.
"The leadoff spot is not really where I'm the most comfortable in the lineup, but I'll do whatever is best for the team to help us be successful," Estes said in the playoffs.
Blake Deal, another junior, hit .297, scoring 21 runs, while driving in a team-high 20 runs this past season. He also led the team with 12 doubles, while driving out one home run.
Junior Caleb Helander, junior Austin Rabalais and freshman Dillion Brown were also above the .200 mark in hitting this season. Helander batted .247, with 18 runs, 15 runs batted in and a home run. Rabalais scored 15 times and drove in 10 runs with four doubles, while Brown picked up 16 RBI with five doubles and a .210 batting average.
Senior outfielder Teague Kowalski is the only SHS starter who will be graduating.
"We need to get better offensively next season," Innerarity noted. "Hopefully with another year for these guys it will help. Having almost all of them coming back is a real god thing and then it will be a tremendous boost to be dropping down a notch and playing with the numbers that everybody else will. That should level the playing field.
"I think with another year under some of these younger kids' belts, they'll be better. So that was definitely a positive about this year."
Estes continued to lead the Dragons in pitching, finishing his junior campaign with a 7-5 record, with a 2.35 earned run average though 89.1 innings. He struck out a team-high 160 and allowed opponents to only hit .169.
Next year Innerarity hopes that a solid No.2 man will develop in the rotation. He feels that freshman Blane Deal could be that player. In 32.1 innings this season Deal had an 8.44 ERA, with a 31 strikeouts.
"I think Blane is going to come along," the coach confessed. "I'll start earlier with Blane as the No.2 guy next year. Maybe I'll switch him and Tyler some; maybe Tyler will be a mop-up-type closer guy because of some of the things I saw in him this season.
"Blane can be a good pitcher, he just needs to get a little bigger and a little stronger and get some more work."
Adams had a 7.69 earned run average with a 51 strikeouts in 37.1 innings. Batters averaged .268 at the plate against him.
Innerarity hopes that the defensive errors go down next season as the team finished the 30-game season with 103 errors, averaging 3.4 per game.
"When we struggled our pitchers gave up too many walks, and we had way too many errors this season," Innerarity stated. "I think if can cut down on our defensive errors we have a lot of games that could have come out different. So we'll work on taking care of that problem."
So the trials of a tough 2010 could end up as the rewards of 2011 for the Shelbyville Dragon baseball team. Only time will tell.