Having won the 8-2A title, Parkers Chapel now has a week to prepare for the start of postseason play.
The defending 2A state champions will be the No. 1 seed for the 8-2A District Tournament, and they already have a spot in the regional tournament sewed up.
The Trojans will host McCrory this afternoon before playing at Crossett on Monday and hosting Nevada on Tuesday to close out the regular season.
For Parkers Chapel coach Mark Looney, these three games will provide an opportunity for members of the pitching staff to get work before the postseason begins.
“I need some bullpen performances from Grayson Hurst, Reid Cates and Trace Shoup,” Looney said. “Those three guys need to get some innings under their belts in those three games, and Tyler (Martin) and Michael (Brotherton) will need to pitch an inning or two within those games also.”
Looney added that he will be focusing on fundamentals.
“We have just got to keep doing what we’re doing, keep working the fundamentals every day at practice, keep throwing our bullpens,” Looney said. “Just keep trying to do the small things correct. There were a few things that we didn’t do good (against Junction City). We’re far from playing a perfect game, and you just keep striving to try to play a perfect game in all aspects, even things that don’t go in the book. So that’s what we’re working for.”
Although the win over Junction City gave the Trojans the 8-2A conference title, Looney said his team must continue to build off what has been a perfect month of April.
Heading into today’s game against McCrory, the Trojans have won their last 12 games dating back to the end of March.
“This was a nice victory, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really mean anything,” Looney said. “It gives us the No. 1 seed for district, but all the seeding for district is what really counts for regionals. It’s a nice win. It’s a nice come-from-behind win, but in the realm of things, it doesn’t mean anything.”
A big reason for the Trojans’ success has been the productivity of the bottom of the lineup.
Austin Looney sports an on-base percentage of .432 out of the No. 7 spot, while Caleb Jacobs, who hits eighth, is 15-for-16 in stolen bases and has been hot of late by going 6-for-13 with three RBIs in his last four games. Tyler Killingsworth, who bats ninth, has driven in eight runs in his last five games.
“My son does a good job of getting on base,” Looney said. “The seven-hole, I try to treat it just like another leadoff position down there. Caleb has raised his average 100 points in the last three weeks. He didn’t play baseball last year, and now he’s got a lot of reps underneath him.
“He’s a great athlete, and he’s coming into form. TK was another basketball player that didn’t play last year that decided to come back out. After he got some reps, I saw some good things in practice, and when a coach sees good things in practice, it’s time to give the kid a shot. I rotated three, four, five guys in the nine-hole all year, and finally now, TK has grabbed the job and he is running with it. He makes contact. He gets on base.”
In Tuesday’s 4-3, nine-inning win over Junction City, the Trojans posted their fifth come-from behind-win in conference play, scoring three runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings before winning it in the ninth, and Looney said his team’s experience played a role in making their comeback.
“Sometimes a young team will panic a little bit and press and be frustrated, but I thought we had some good, quality at-bats even though our strikeouts were in double digits,” Looney said.
“Once again, that’s working (Junction City starter Keelan) Hodge a little bit and trying to get his pitch count up. I made my kids take a lot of pitches that I normally wouldn’t, but they just do what I ask them to do. They’re a very coachable, tight-knit bunch.”