Andrews – What a difference a week makes. Exactly one week before the Andrews baseball team snapped a 18-game losing streak that spanned two years with an 11-10 win over Cherokee, they had a long postgame talk in the outfield after an 18-1 loss to the Asheville Trailblazers.
After spending two weeks trying to cobble together a team due to initial lack of interest, new head coach Brian Wilson wanted to see a little more from his team. He knew it could be a tough year, but wanted the Wildcats to be better in execution and effort.
The next time out, Andrews traveled to Cherokee on March 14 and built an 8-2 lead before eventually falling 10-8. Two days later, Cherokee led 8-5 before the Wildcats flipped the script. So after Braxton Rickett got the first two outs in the top of the seventh, he had to keep his emotions in check. The tying run was on base, but the win was right there too. When shortstop Isaac Weaver fielded a ground ball and fired to first for the final out, Rickett flexed his arms and roared as he skipped off the field.
He was soon joined by a lot of smiling Wildcats, who had a glimpse of what was possible if they keep working.
“That’s a big confidence booster,” Wilson said. “Not only for this year, but for next year and the following year. We had a lot of kids with a lot of inexperience that came through today and done their job.”
Weaver is Andrews (1-3 overall, 1-1 Smoky Mountain Conference) only senior, while the rest of the team is mostly freshmen and sophomores. Wilson said it’s a group that has some potential, but it’s raw and needs to be developed. Two weeks that could’ve been spent for practice were spent compiling a team, and the recent bad weather didn’t help, either.
“We’re two weeks behind in essence,” Wilson said. “So it’s been just getting caught up and being able to do some things. The weather’s been cooperating so we’ve been able to get on the field. Those are big things for us.”
Wilson had been emphasizing the little things to his team, and it paid off against the Braves. Trailing 8-7 in the fifth, Logan Shuler hit a two-run single to put Andrews in front. Cherokee (2-5, 1-1) responded with two in the top of the sixth, then Rickett smacked a two-run double to left center that put the Wildcats back in front.
In a year where Wilson is looking for building blocks, Rickett has fit the mold. Weaver is the natural leader this year due to all the success he’s had at Andrews, and Rickett is someone who’s stepped up early.
Like every player on this team but Weaver, he’ll be able to return next year. That makes the goal this year to just improve so the floor will be raised for next year when Wilson thinks they can add some more talent off a solid Andrews Middle School team.
“I knew when we took over this it’s going to be a tough year, we’re young,” Wilson said. “But we have high hopes for the next two years and we’re hoping to use it as a stepping stone and we’re trying to get better, learn a little baseball and build confidence.”