Tigers taking a new plan to bat
Published 11:28 pm Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Demopolis (4-10) head baseball coach Ben Ramer has his squad thinking outside the box this week. Monday, he had the Tigers swinging outside the box.
The Demopolis varsity squad spent the entirety of Monday’s practice with just one rule: Swing at everything.
Tiger players were instructed as they stepped up to the plate to swing at every pitch no matter where it landed.
“Nobody in the state will take more swings than us this week,” Ramer said of the approach he adopted after watching his team muster only six runs over three games this past weekend. “The reason we’re not winning ball games is we’re not scoring any runs. We’re going to swing every day until we get better at that. I know it’s not the amount of reps we’re getting in practice. But we’re not going to let not getting enough reps in practice cause us to not win a game.”
Ramer said he and his staff are still attempting to figure out why the squad’s practice work has not consistently translated to game success.
“To me its pressure,” Ramer said.
When asked if inexperience has played a role in the Tigers’ offensive struggles, Ramer was torn.
“I don’t know how much to put into that,” Ramer said. “Probably our most consistent guy has been Kole Thrasher. He’s a freshman who played middle school ball last year. He’s not intimidated at all by varsity pitching. He’s not intimidated by situations.”
Ramer said the Tigers will continue to focus their efforts on developing an offensive prowess.
“Our pitchers have done an excellent job. They’ve gone out and given us a chance to win,” Ramer said. “We’ve got to get our (hitters) to be big in big situations. We’re snake bit and we’ve got to make something happen.”