RED DEVIL UPDATE - DUST DEVIL AT THE DIAMOND

The Elkmont baseball team has played several games recently.  They played very poorly and lost to Tanner 16-7 at Tanner’s field.  Also visited West Limestone and split a double-header.  Winning the first game, 8-4, and then losing the second game, 14-4.  Elkmont then returned home to host ABS.  The Red Devils played their best game of the year and won 3-2.  In the ABS game the team played excellent defense – did not make an error and turned in several outstanding defensive plays.  Ben Ferguson picked up the pitching win against West Limestone.  Jared Bailey notched a win against ABS.  Both pitched excellent games in the two wins.  Elkmont’s record now stands at 4-5.

Observations:  Elkmont is improving with every game and the basketball players that started baseball late are beginning to shake off the rust as they play more games.  Cole Glass is doing an outstanding job as the lead-off hitter.  His on base percentage is very high.  He is also stealing bases and scoring runs.  The team has cut down on the number of strike outs and is putting the ball in play more often.  The pitching is decent and the defense is making fewer errors.  The play of the outfield has been very strong.

Prediction:  The Dust Devil believes the Red Devils will make the playoffs.  I still have a question if it will be as Area Champion or as runner-up.  It depends on the team’s continued improvement over the next couple of weeks.

ELKMONT BASEBALL BEGINS - DUST DEVIL AT THE DIAMOND

The Elkmont varsity baseball season has started and they have already played four games. The Red Devils'  record stands at 2-2.  Elkmont lost to Brewer 14 - 3, but played without six starters who were still playing basketball.  Elkmont also lost to East Lawrence, 10 - 5, when those six players joined the team and played their first game without any practice.  They were able to get in a couple of days of practice with the full varsity team before their next game.  Since then, the Red Devils have won their next two games; beating Falkville, 17 - 4 and Addison, 12 - 5.  Against Falkville, Cole Glass had three hits and Jared Bailey hit a grand slam.  Tyler Thomas pitched well against Addison picking up the win and the whole line up hit well.


OBSERVATIONS:
The team will be an excellent defensive team.   Both the infield and outfield are solid and the catcher position is strong.  The Red Devils also will be an excellent hitting team with both power and speed.  In particular, the first five batters will be a tough out every time.  Elkmont is well coached.  Coach Holt knows the game and continues to work with the players no matter the score.  


The Dust Devil sees two weaknesses that this team must improve in order to have a winning season and make the playoffs.  The first weakness is the number of strike-outs.  Even though Elkmont is an excellent hitting team and has scored enough runs so far, but good varsity teams seldom strike-out and put the ball in play to force the other team to make outs.  The second weakness is pitching.  The Red Devils have several good pitchers but none are dominate yet.  Ben Ferguson, Tyler Thomas, Michael Haney and Skyler Gant have the potential to become that top level pitcher.


PREDICTION:
The Dust Devil believes that Elkmont will be a fun team to watch and hitting and defense will be the strength of the team.  He also believes that the strike-outs will be reduced as the players get more practice.  The real question is the pitching.  The Dust Devil is going to watch a few more games before predicting if the Elkmont Red Devils will have a winning season or make the playoffs.

BASEBALL REPORTERS

The Elkmont Baseball Blog would like to announce it's bullpen of reporters for this season.

Dust Devil at the Diamond - varsity

Diamond Devil - JV

Baseball Taz - middle school