By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The eyes are once again on the South Salem baseball team.
Despite graduating nine seniors from their 29-1 squad from last year, they still have a solid core returning that features Sawyer Nelson and Teagan Scott and some new faces like Blake Kansky, Jimmy Ordaz Jr and Kellen Bowman and Ben Greer making the move to varsity full-time making the move up to the Varsity roster this Spring. Filling the void left by those nine seniors who graduated from last year’s squad.
South Salem Head Coach Max Price spoke highly about those four in particular as they make the move to the Varsity full-time.
“(Kansky) was on our Varsity roster last year, but never ended up getting into a game. I think he’s going to surprise some people with how good he is on the mound. He’s a very mature pitcher, been around for a while. I think offensively, Kellen Bowman and Ben Greer, they split time a little bit last year, but both are really good. I’m excited to see them in more of a full-time role offensively,” starts Price. “Jimmy Ordaz Jr, he’s going to anchor down second base for us. I think he’ll turn some heads this year and people will be surprised with how smart he is on a baseball field, how well he hits the ball and how quickly he moves around.”
For Greer, those few opportunities have helped him as he looks to help contribute to the machine that is the Saxon Baseball program.
“The last couple of years it’s showed us how to do things and what we need to do to get to the level of where we’re at and where we need to be at,” Greer said. “We just have to work hard everyday. Just used my experience and lead by example.”
And though they’re part of the machine that is South Salem baseball, the most important thing is that it’s supposed to be a fun game played with friends. There’s something about that team chemistry, something that Scott points towards, some stemming from the recent basketball season, others from this past Spring.
Even their Head Coach, who’s entering his tenth year running the program and has seen some deep playoff runs through his tenure to this point, points towards similar feelings about the sport he once played and has coached for a while as well.
“It’s addictive,” said Price about baseball. “There’s nothing else where you show up and your feel the way you feel during a baseball game. Just the energy, the excitement of it. It’s a whole different feeling that’s really hard to replicate anywhere else. Where you’re in this shared pursuit of something bigger than yourself with a bunch of guys you enjoy being around, coaches you enjoy being around. It’s super addictive, it’s hard to get away from and I think that’s the main thing. It’s addictive and fun and there’s nothing quiet like it.”
“Just being out here with my buddies, I’ve known these guys my whole life. So just coming out and having fun with them. “Baseball is a hard game, if you relax it makes it better. Go out with a sense of urgency, but playing very free,” adds Scott. “For a lot of us, it’s our last year playing High School baseball, so just going out there and taking every opportunity, every practice, those kind of things. We kind of experienced it with basketball a little bit this year. It’s a short season, so taking advantage of it everyday.”
The Saxons will open the season on March 17 at Ida B Wells with their home opener being on April 1 against Grant.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
