Kevin Gray wasn’t worried.
No, Beechwood’s baseball coach was not concerned about the four-time defending Ninth Region champion Tigers starting this season at 2-3 before winning five straight going into this weekend’s Ninth Region All “A” tournament.
What was Gray’s reason for the slow start?
He wanted his team to get some early experience.
“We’re pretty young this year, so we kind of threw them to the wolves with Ryle (an 8-2 loss on March 13), Highlands (12-6 on March 19) and Dixie (Heights, a 5-2 setback on March 21),” Gray said Tuesday. “ … We were trying different things, we were throwing two, three guys every game trying to see who could do what.”
But look at Beechwood now – the Tigers are 7-3 with five straight wins and a .313 team batting average.
Junior catcher Carson Welch’s .429 average leads the team, and junior Keagan Hutton is next at .412. Freshman Tyler Fryman is third at .360, and junior Chase Flaherty is fourth at .348.
Comparing Welch’s 2024 numbers to last year’s is as much a contrast as the 7-2 Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics, who were 1-6 as of Thursday. A season ago, Welch hit just .159.
“This year, he does a lot of extra work, stays after, works with Coach (Kyle) Shoopman a lot,” Gray said. “We always knew he could hit.”
Welch didn’t work much on hitting until this year; he spent his junior season working on catching mechanics and concentrating on hitting this year.
Then, an injury: Welch had surgery to repair a torn left labrum he suffered last August during a football scrimmage against Ryle. He missed the whole season and all the prospect camps he couldn’t attend.
“I wasn’t concerned about the baseball season,” Welch said. “I was really expecting to get off to a slow start, honestly, because I thought I’d be a little more rusty than I am right now.”
In 2023, Welch struck out 25 times in 63 at-bats. So far this season, four strikeouts in 14 plate appearances.
“I don’t try to swing for the fences anymore,” Welch said.
What is different so far – is Beechwood has only one home run (Fryman), 22 doubles (Michael Detzel has seven) and four triples. (Fryman, Flaherty, Welch and freshman Caleb Arrasmith have one each.)
“We don’t have as much power as we have had in the past, but (Hutton) is one of them who can yank one out,” Gray said.
Junior Matthew Cottengim is hitting .320 (compared with .190 last year), but Gray talks about his defense – especially on a grounder in the fourth inning of Monday’s 11-2 win over Scott.
“He made a play in the hole on one knee, and used the turf and threw the guy out at first,” Gray said.
Cottengim said he’s more confident at the plate. “I’m more aggressive, swinging at pitches early in the count,” he said.
Beechwood’s pitching statistics are a bit deceiving; the Tigers struck out 55, walked 54 and have a 4.07 team earned run average, but senior Graham Holt and Flaherty are both 2-0, Holt carries a 0.72 earned run average with 11 strikeouts, 10 walks and just one earned run, and Flaherty has a 2.33 ERA.
Arrasmith started against Ryle’s Dylan McIntyre, who struck out five and has 15 for the season.
“Caleb did well, he threw the ball well,” Gray said. “The good thing … he’s gotten better with each outing.”
Sophomore Sawyer Carlisle lost to Highlands (he had five strikeouts and five walks), and junior Caleb Steine lost in relief against Dixie Heights.
Gray said Flaherty and Holt are Beechwood’s top two pitchers.
“Chase just pounds the strike zone,” Gray said. “Chase works fast, and when he gets into a groove, he’s really hard to hit. He’s got two or three pitches, he probably gets it up to 85 (mph).”
Holt, a left-hander, doesn’t throw as hard as Flaherty, but that’s fine with Gray.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re throwing 95 or 78; if you’re hitting spots, you can be effective,” Gray said. “Graham has really been hitting spots, getting a lot of ground balls … he’s been a surprise, and he’s done real well.”
Holt said Flaherty has always been Beechwood’s ace.
“I think my job this year – and how it’s always been – is, I’ve got to pound the strike zone, pitch to contact and hopefully get runners out,” Holt said. “I’m not a big strikeout guy.”
Winning the regional All “A” is one of Beechwood’s four goals – the others are winning the state small-school title, another 35th District trophy, and a fifth consecutive Ninth Region championship.
“Our hitting and pitching (are) coming together at the right time,” Holt said. “Our pitching at the beginning of the year … was a little bit iffy, but right now it’s been super-solid. Our hitting has always been there, but it’s been really, really good the past two weeks.”