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Before the pandemic shut down its season in 2020, the Southlake Carroll baseball team aimed to pick up its third-straight championship.
“We were very excited about the opportunity to three-peat,” head baseball coach Larry Vucan says. “And with the guys that we had coming back, we were 12-2 before the cancellation of the season.”
Now with the 2020 season gone, Dragon Baseball is making its way through the 2021 season. Starting fresh, the team has a 15-13 record as of mid-April. Having won six of their last 10 games, Dragon Baseball is stepping up to the plate.
FROM THE ASHES
When the season started this year, no one could forget the outcome of 2020.
“We thought we’d have only maybe two, three weeks off and then we’d be right back at it,” Larry says. “We never thought our entire season would be canceled.”
Larry says the cancellation was hard for everybody on the team — especially the seniors.
“It was unfortunate for those guys, those seniors who lost their season and didn’t get it back,” Larry says. “And now we’re starting from scratch with a completely different group, with really nobody back from that season.”
Griffin Herring, a junior left-handed pitcher committed to Louisiana State University, was also disappointed with last season’s cancellation.
“I knew the potential of our team, and knowing that was basically going to waste was just really tough,” says Griffin, who’s been on the varsity team since he was a freshman.
That potential included Brandon Howell (now at Tulane University), who was named a top freshman prospect by the American Athletic Conference. Homer Bush Jr. — the son of Major League Baseball player Homer Bush Sr. — also graduated last year and went on to play in the prestigious Appalachian League last summer.
Now from the ashes of a canceled 2020 season rises the 2021 team, full of fresh faces. With only a few starters having varsity experience, many are learning the Dragon Baseball ways on the job.
“I think the biggest thing is to bridge the gap between experience and expectation,” Larry says. “The expectations haven’t changed.”
After parting with 18 varsity players due to graduation, the remaining upperclassmen are relatively new and untested varsity starters. Tyler White, a returning sophomore first baseman, knew 2021 would be different.
“This year, everyone knew that we weren’t having players come back,” Tyler says. “So [it’s] the time for our underclassmen to start stepping up and leading the team how the senior class before us showed us to do.”
One of the team’s eight returning seniors, right-handed pitcher Luke Gornell says having that leadership is crucial.
“We have such a young team with virtually no returners and really no kids with any varsity experience,” Luke says. “With such a young team comes the need for leadership, which I think is a strength of our team having coach Vucan.”
While the young players may not have the most experience, they’re working hard to make the team proud.
DRAGON STRONG
“I think we’ve developed a culture here where the expectations and the standards are high and that’s not gonna change,” Larry says. “The bar is set pretty high.”
Griffin says he feels confident in the team.
“I know how much all of the guys want it and how hard they’re gonna work for it,” Griffin says.
Dragon Baseball may be young, but the team has definite areas of strength.
“I think we play fast. We’ve got team speed [and] you can’t coach speed….so that’s been a help of ours,” Larry says. “I think the other strength exists in our pitching staff. Our pitching is very strong.”
This year’s team gets on base and makes the most of it. And when it comes to speed, the Dragons have it. So far this season, the team has collectively stolen 140 bases. Junior Tanner Sumer leads the team in stolen bases with 21 and Gunnar Krug and Max Reyes trail him with 20 and 19 stolen bases, respectively.
On the pitching side of things, coach Vucan isn’t the only one who sees the talent. Tyler says he also sees strength in the team’s pitching staff.
“Our pitching staff is very deep, and we can put together a bunch of hits in games off great pitching,” Tyler says.
Dragon Baseball does have a talented pitching staff. Besides Griffin — who has a 1.42 earned run average and 55 strikeouts in 34.1 innings pitched — junior pitcher Owen Proksch, a Duke University commit, has struck out 42 players in just 24.1 innings.
Other pitchers on the team include seniors Luke Gornell and Ryan Pehrson (a Wharton County Junior College commit), junior Nathan Rusher and sophomore Tyler White.
Along with their pitching abilities, Griffin says he sees strength in the team’s passion.
“Everybody on the team is really bought into each other and the process that it’s gonna take to put our year on the left field wall,” Griffin says. “We all believe in each other and know we can do great things, and that’s what’s gonna push us.”
With the postseason looming, Dragon Baseball is currently working to finish out the regular season strong.
“I think we’ve outshined expectations in some areas, and come short of them in others,” Luke says. “But I think we have the capability to go deep into the playoffs this year.”
Whether or not they three-peat, the Dragons have the confidence and support from their coach.
“I do feel the talent is there, and I think that once...they close that gap with experience, then I think there’s no doubt with our pedigree and the culture of the program that I think that these kids can achieve that,” Larry says. “There’s no doubt.”
Dragon Baseball is sure to leave everything they have out on the field.
“I think we’re right where we need to be. We’re in a position to hopefully take all the experiences we’ve learned from the tournament season and apply them to the important games, which we’re in now,” Larry says. “I feel very confident that the kids are on their way to being successful.”