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LHS baseball: Holmes, Eagles psyched for AAA challenge
Mark Holmes' first turn as Liberty baseball coach started in spectacular fashion back in 2001. The Eagles rolled into the playoffs, won the Group AA Region II title and advanced to the state quarterfinals.
It may require some serious mojo for his second go-round to blossom as fruitfully.
Holmes led LHS from 2001-03, then stepped down to assistant as Ted Currle assumed the manager role from 2003-07. Now Currle is in Boston and Holmes is back as the Eagles' head man.
But he takes over a team that is minus several key contributors from last year's 9-11 Liberty squad.
“We lost a lot of experience,” senior Russ Hill said. “Pitching, behind the plate, in the outfield, we lost a lot.”
The awaiting challenge has not stemmed Holmes' enthusiasm, though. He is just happy to be the Eagles' manager again.
“It's nice being back in charge,” Holmes said. “The questions, the decisions that have to be made go through me, and I like that.”
A glance at what Holmes has to work with:
THE STAFF
Arguably the biggest name missing from this year's roster is Travis Clark. Clark was Liberty's ace pitcher in 2007 and has since moved on to play at Shenandoah University.
Clark started on opening day, in the Eagles' lone district playoff game and in just about every key game in between last season. “We're going to miss him,” Holmes said.
Sophomore Jimmy Bowman steps into his vacant spot.
The bulky youngster made an emergency jump from JV to varsity last season, and showed glimmers of brilliance.
He pitched six strong innings to beat Fauquier in his debut, then dominated Brentsville just days later for a 2-1 win.
Barring the unexpected, he will start Liberty's opener Wednesday vs. Brentsville and be the Eagles' No. 1 hurler.
“I'm very excited about it,” Bowman said. “It definitely helped me [to come up to varsity last season]. I don't know what I'd be thinking right now if I hadn't.”
Bowman features a deep arsenal of pitches designed to keep opponents off-balance.
The right-hander begins with the usual trio of a fastball, change-up and curve. Bowman's bread-and-butter, though, is a cut fastball, which tails violently from left-to-right across the plate.
He has also developed a drop-down slider, giving him five reliable offerings.
“I'll use the submarine just as something to throw off batters,” Bowman said.
The Eagles hoped that senior Russ Hill would team with Bowman to form a potent starting duo. A shoulder injury will prevent Hill from ever seeing the mound this season, though.
So fellow senior Kurt Thiele likely takes over the No. 2 starting spot.
“We only have four to five pitchers this year, so we'll see what we can do throughout games,” said Thiele, who brings a two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball and developing curve to the table.
Holmes hopes that Josh McDowell, Zak Rector, Cody Williams and Tyler Bouchard can round out the bullpen.
“I don't know that we're going to have that one stud,” Holmes said, “but we'll have a deep pitching staff.”
THE INFIELD
Hill's injury also forces Holmes to rework things here.
Instead of starting Hill at short for the fourth straight year, with senior Kevin Moss returning at second, both will move. Hill slides over to first in order to protect his arm, while Moss switches to short.
“Ideally, we would have Russ Hill play short,” Holmes said. “Kevin Moss is going to have fill that hole, and he's a natural second baseman. We'll have to do some shuffling on the infield.”
Senior Troy Lyon jumps into the lineup, replacing Moss at second base. Another senior, Jacob Russo, is penciled in at third base.
Behind the plate, diminutive junior Josh McDowell fills in for the graduated Brian Colbert — a talented backstop who plays with Clark at Shenandoah.
“Josh McDowell's going to catch for us right now, and he'll do a great job back there,” Holmes raved. “He's a very good catcher.”
THE OUTFIELD
The loss of center fielder Ryan Schawalder hurts LHS, both in the field and at the plate. Schawalder proved one of the Eagles' best players for the past few seasons.
Supplanting him — and inheriting the honor of “Last name most likely to be misspelled” — is Thiele.
“I definitely feel up to the task,” Thiele said. “Ryan Schawalder had a key role last year, and I look to fill his shoes.”
Sophomore Ryan Walker and junior Cody Williams in left and right field, respectively, are likely to flank Thiele.
Bouchard, Adam MacMillon and Kenny Tapscott could also work into the outfield rotation.
LIBERTY'S OUTLOOK
The Eagles finished 7-7 in the Northwestern District last year, but hoped for more.
Between some miserable hitting slumps, occasionally sloppy fielding and pitching concerns, the team never really performed up to its own expectations.
Everything came to a head in an upset playoff loss to Brentsville.
Liberty pitchers walked nine Tiger batters and threw four wild pitches. The Eagles' committed four errors. And the offense mustered just three infield singles in the 10-6 defeat.
Liberty's offensive struggles, in particular, have haunted the team throughout the past two seasons.
“We hope it's in the past,” Holmes said. “If it's not, it's going to be a long year.
“We have a bunch of contact hitters right now, guys that are capable of putting the ball in play,” he continued. “Hopefully we put enough balls in play and the {opposing] defense makes enough errors to manufacture runs that way.”
A jump to Group AAA and the Cedar Run District almost certainly promises the Eagles will see lots of talented arms. How the team responds at the dish will be telling.
“We're definitely working on being better with two strikes, getting the bat on the ball,” Thiele said.
Of course, the Cedar Run District hosts plenty of talented batters, as well. That means that, while Liberty fights to generate runs, the pitching staff must perform.
“AAA baseball, there isn't a big drop-off from the top to the bottom,” Holmes said. “You can't go through the schedule and put a 'W' by any of them.”
Still, Holmes remained optimistic that his team would find those coveted victories here and there.
He does, after all, have his own legacy to live up to.
“I am excited,” Holmes said. “It's going to be a battle every night we step on the field.”
-- For more on the start of Liberty's baseball season, head to Chris Burke's blog at http://fauquier.com/blogs/standing-room-only/
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