Hagerstown baseball takes expectations in stride, aims to do ‘something special’ in 2023
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. — An undefeated conference record. Two wins over the eventual Class 2A state runner-up. Just a few runs short of completing an inspiring comeback effort in a thrilling sectional championship. All with a lone senior leading the pitching staff and a bunch of underclassmen filling out the lineup.
Some people — shoot, most people — would call Hagerstown’s 2022 baseball season a success. But there are a select few, namely the ones who made it happen on the field, who would disagree.
“We don’t really see that as success for us,” Hagerstown head coach Jay Hale said with a smirk. “Obviously, we were happy to win conference, but our main goal is sectionals and go from there. I don’t even think they have that in their heads that they were successful last year.”
Players to watch: 19 Wayne County baseball players to watch during 2023 season
There were no expectations for the Tigers the last two years. They were a team full of freshmen and sophomores getting their first cracks at varsity high school baseball. They were still maturing, trying to prove themselves and finding their roles on the team.
This season, the expectations are there. The players are one year older, they’ve shown what they can do and they each know what they bring to the table. That’s resulted in a 7-1 record to start their 2023 campaign.
Along with their evident talent, what makes the Tigers even more dangerous is their attitude hasn’t changed. Despite last year’s success (if others can still call it success), they still play like they have a chip on their shoulder.
“Some people outside Hagerstown said we wouldn’t do anything big, but we like that. We took it and used it as fuel for the fire,” junior Cole Tracy said. “We knew we had a target on our back from last year, and people expect a lot out of us. This year, we’re going to stay humble, stay competitive and shine when it’s meant to be shined.”
'We came to win': Hagerstown baseball stays true to itself to win Wayne County Tournament
Through those first eight games, Hagerstown has a .390 team batting average, which is more than 115 points higher than the national average. Hagerstown’s pitchers are also sporting a combined 2.38 ERA, nearly three runs better than the national mark.
It’s early, way too early to be thinking about what could happen two months from now, but the Tigers are already looking like a team that could … No, wait, it’s too early for that.
The Pal-Item asked Hale how far his team can go. With a big smile, he said, “We can go to Tuesday when we play Seton.” It’s that classic one-game-at-a-time mentality. Hale knows his team plays the Cardinals Tuesday night. He also knows his team has a Saturday doubleheader against Cowan, but the only reason he knows that is because he had to plan the pitching rotation for Seton. After that, “I don’t know who we play.”
But that hasn’t stopped the players from at least briefly fantasizing about the possibilities and seeing what they know they’re capable of come to fruition. Tracy hinted at a loftier goal, but he said the main focus is bringing Hagerstown a 12th sectional title and its first since 2019.
“We take every year seriously, but we know we have a shot at something special this year,” Tracy said. “We have a great group of guys who put in work day in and day out. I think we can really do something special this year.”
Last year: Aiden Grover sent Hagerstown baseball to the sectional final, and the Tigers never gave up
What makes the Tigers so special is you can tell as soon as you walk into the ballpark that they’re a true team. You can put together a roster of the best players around, but if they’re not gelling, you don’t truly have a team. Hale has himself a team.
The Tigers are a loud bunch. They’re hollering at their teammates after every pitch, encouraging them, joking with them or just making unprompted noise. During one turn at bat against Richmond March 30, after a series of hoots and heckles, Hagerstown’s dugout had maybe three seconds of silence before Tracy, who was standing on third base, yelled, “Why is it so quiet?” The energy picked right back up, and it didn’t stop the rest of the game.
“We have a couple guys, myself included, who like to have fun and be goofy. We like to bring a lot of energy,” Tracy said. “When you have a team like us that’s full of energetic people, we’re all going to be involved, all talking and we’re going to help each other out.”
Hale had a simple explanation for why his players have so much fun: “These guys love the game.” If you take a look down Hagerstown’s line of players leaning over the dugout railing, chances are you’ll see a bunch of smiling faces, and the ones who aren’t smiling are locked into the game.
'I know I can': Richmond senior Gunner Kovach has his eyes set on school high jump record
Last year, it was Hale, the “hard-ass coach,” trying to get through to his young, quiet team to have fun. This year, it’s been the players having a good time while their coach smiles from the third-base coaching box.
“They’ve probably seen more smiles out of me these last three games than they did all of last year just because I was super focused and every game was so tight for us,” Hale said. “Playing three good teams this year, I’m already tensed up. They get a few hits and hit a few bombs, and I get to smile a little bit.”
A year ago, Hagerstown was able to fly under the radar, but that won’t be the case this season. Maybe this will be the year fans get to see what the Tigers’ definition of success looks like.
Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: 'Something special': Hagerstown baseball takes expectations in stride
