A year ago, Junction City was set to defend its 2A state crown, but the coronavirus pandemic ended the season after just a few weeks of play.
As the Dragons get ready to start the 2021 season, there are plenty of familiar faces on the team, but they lack game experience due to the pandemic prematurely ending the 2020 season.
“Naturally, every team is different and this year for sure because we didn’t play enough to count as far as the season was just a few games,” said Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett. “Several of my seniors now missed out on a year of playing that would’ve gotten them some experience, so we’re starting with really only one returning starter, and that’s Gabe Richard. He plays basketball, so he will be late getting to us. We’ve got not a lot of new faces, but a lot of new players that will get to start this year.”
The Dragons will be relying heavily on their seniors, and while they may lack game experience, they are well-versed in Hammett’s approach.
“My senior class is our strongest because all of them have been down here since the ninth grade,” Hammett said.
“I’ve got six seniors and all of them are going to contribute, so I’ve got some experience knowing what things need to be done and how they need to be done.
“They just haven’t gotten much playing experience, so early in the year, it’s going to be learning as we go.”
The Dragons will be breaking in a new infield this spring.
Junior Michael Osgood and senior A’Donnis Jones are expected to platoon at first base.
Jacob Orr, a senior who played at first base in 2020, is at second base. Freshman Beaux Maxcy also could see playing time there as well.
Senior Coyt Sellers will be at shortstop, and fellow senior Gabe Richard, the lone returning starter from last year, will get playing time there once his basketball commitment finishes.
Senior Clay Graves will be at third base with junior Chase Wood also in the mix.
Behind the plate, senior Trey Walker is back after playing there during the brief 2020 season.
“He gives us a little experience because he started last year,” Hammett said. “He’s been working on catching for four years, and he’s gotten better and better.”
The outfield also will have several new faces.
If he isn’t playing at third base, Wood will be in left field where his speed will be a benefit.
“He has super speed,” Hammett said. “He can run down some balls.”
Logan Pepper, a senior, is slated to be in center field.
In right field, the Dragons will have a platoon between players who also shined on the gridiron.
If he isn’t playing at first base, Jones, an All-State selection in football, will be there along with junior Jamal Johnson, who starts at running back.
Sophomores Bryan Estrada and Jeremy Caldwell also are in the mix to play in the outfield.
Given the speed there, Hammett is hoping outfield defense will be a strength for his team.
“Outfield-wise, I feel pretty good about it,” Hammett said. “We can cover a lot of ground with our speed. Hopefully that’s one our strengths defensively.”
On the mound, the Dragons will be rebuilding their rotation after Keelan Hodge and Ty Disotell graduated.
Richard, who got 10 innings of work during the Dragons’ run to the state title two years ago, will be counted on to lead the staff.
After Richard, the Dragons have several candidates that will get an opportunity to log innings this spring.
“We’ve had several guys look good in intrasquads,” Hammett said.
Among the candidates to see time on the mound are Walker, Pepper, Sellers, Orr, Maxcy and Wood, and Hammett said he is going with a unique approach with his staff.
“Right now, we’ve got sort of a different approach,” Hammett said. “In years past, we had one or two guys and we’d let them go 70, 80 pitches. This year, especially in the first two or three weeks, we’ll keep their pitch counts down in the 30s or below 30 even.”
In their run to the state title two years ago, Hodge, Disotell and T.J. Bale combined to work 163 innings, but with the staff lacking experience, Hammett is going to break in his pitchers slowly.
“In years past, we had two or three guys that we knew that could go pretty deep into the game,” Hammett said.
“With our experience as far as pitching, Gabe is the only one we’ve got back, so the rest of them, we’re just trying to see how they perform in a game and who can come through for us and who has to work a little more.
“Counting Gabe, I think we’ve got seven guys that can throw a little bit. Now you won’t know until you get to play to see if they can pitch. That’s what we’ll be looking at. I feel pretty good. Until last week, weather-wise right before this snow storm, we had about two, two-and-a-half weeks of good weather and we were outside and we got to go live a little bit with our pitching.
“We’ve probably done more of that than we have in the past just trying to get them comfortable and get them a little experience before we get started.”
The 8-2A always ranks among the toughest conferences in the state regardless of class, and Hammett is expecting Parkers Chapel and Woodlawn to be among the teams to beat for the league crown.
“I know Woodlawn and Parkers Chapel are going to have good teams year in and year out,” Hammett said. “Not playing, trying to figure who they’ve got, and I imagine they’re trying to figure who we’ve got.
“Normally, you’ve got a good idea, but with the virus and all of that happening, I just know Woodlawn and PC will be at the top, not counting anybody out, you just never know.
“Gurdon had a pretty decent year going last year, and they moved into our conference, so that’s another team you probably need to look out for.”
Sound pitching and defense have always been key attributes to the Dragons’ success, and the latter will be even more crucial due to the lack of experience Junction City’s pitchers have sans Richard.
“It always starts with the guy on the mound for us,” Hammett said. “Pitching and then defense behind him, probably more so than ever just because of our experience at pitcher, you don’t want to give teams extra outs and make the pitch count go up.
“We’ve probably spent more time defensively than we do offensively. Hopefully, that pays off for us.”