CARTHAGE, Mo. — The start of the 2021 season couldn’t arrive soon enough for first-year Carthage coach Luke Bordewick.
“Man, I am pumped,” Bordewick said when asked what his excitement level was with the season drawing close. “We have a really good group of athletes and young men here. I am really excited and can’t wait to get after it.”
Bordewick, a Pittsburg State graduate, was a three-year assistant to longtime Tigers coach Mike Godfrey, who announced his plans to step down from the position at the end of last season before it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The reason all of these kids are such hard workers is because Coach Godfrey instilled that in them,” Bordewick said. “He led a great program that prided itself on having good kids who work hard and are great athletes. With all of that, it was a really easy transition to step into a program where the kids are already working hard.”
The Tigers will have four seniors and more than three times as many juniors on the roster this season. Under normal circumstances, that number of upperclassmen would be an extreme plus. But this season is anything but normal, as the seniors were sophomores getting their first sniff of varsity baseball while the juniors were all freshmen the last time they stepped on a field playing for the high school program.
“It stinks because they didn’t get the reps that they needed,” Bordewick said. “Especially when they are stepping in now and trying to lead a team. They just lost an entire season of reps because a lot of those sophomores last year would have been players on varsity. It just stinks they lose those at-bats and innings they would have pitched. But, they are excited to get out here and that kind of attitude is awesome.”
Like many of the area teams, it is going to take time and game reps for the comfortability and consistency needed to play well at the varsity level to grow. Bordewick is well aware of that, but has been extremely encouraged with the growth he has already witnessed to this point.
“Once we get into the swing of it to where we are playing three or four games a week, we should snap into it pretty quickly,” Bordewick said.
TIGERS’ STRENGTHS
As Carthage heads into the season, the team’s pitching as well as the speed on the basepaths and a strong defense figure to be keys to success.
Senior Mason Utter, junior Kaden Arr and junior Zach Geter project to get the bulk of the innings in the rotation this season, with Grant Collier also having experience on the mound
“I think pitching is going to be a strong spot for us,” Bordewick said. “We have a lot of pitchers who can throw strikes. We have a lot of speed. We are going to zip around on the bases. On defense, we have three exceptional senior defenders—an outfielder (Collier), an infielder (SS Kaden Kralicek) and a catcher (Wil McCombs). We have an anchor at every level.”
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK
The Tigers will be looking to string together runs with situational hitting. That is where the reps lost from last season will see it’s biggest hindrance.
“It just comes down to the inexperience of not having last year,” Bordewick said. “They just need to learn and understand how to have a two-strike approach, or how to get a bunt down in a big situation. Things like that, the situational ins and outs of baseball that make a team really, really good instead of average.”
Carthage will be led at the plate with McCombs, who figures to set the table as the leadoff hitter. Kralicek will follow right behind in the two or three hole and be relied upon to get on base at a high rate as well as to drive in runs.
The lineup behind those two will be fluid, according to Bordewick. He plans to have a lot of flexibility in his lineups, seeing what works best as the Tigers progress through the early portions of the season.
SEASON OPENER
Carthage opens the season with a pair of games on the road. The Tigers are at Glendale for a 10 a.m. first pitch before taking on Kennett at 12:30 p.m.
