Sports

The News Leader sat down with Guthrie High head baseball coach Terry Bennett to discuss the upcoming varsity baseball season.

Coach Bennett feels he’s got a really solid team already, with a core of six seniors who have been starting since they were sophomores, and eight seniors total. Additionally, four of the seniors have little brothers who are coming into the baseball program as freshmen. “We have some real solid freshmen coming in,” he says.

When asked to name his standouts, he brings up four names. Carson Wilder is a 3-year starter and will anchor the team behind the plate. Bennett says that Wilder likely would have started as a freshman, but that was the COVID season. He also mentions Willie Clymer, an excellent outfielder as well as the team’s numberthree pitcher. The last two he mentions are two of his top pitchers, Zach Henry, who will not only pitch but will likely move to shortstop as well, and Luke Hubbard, a junior whom he expects to be a strong contributor on the mound.

Rounding out his rotation on the bump will be Jackson Walters, Brent Ingle, Josh Dement, and Kellen Hirzel. Hirzel is notable as he’s only a freshman, as well as an outfielder. This reporter was able to see Hirzel throwing after the interview with Coach Bennett was completed, and he looks to have some good potential, even if he’s a little green.

Another freshman that coach Bennett mentioned was Max Chavez. “He hits with a lot of power. However he’s getting a late start from wrestling, so he might do some duties in the DH role for us this year.” Coach Bennett also mentioned Jace Rainwater, another freshman who will likely end up as the Jays’ fourth infielder. Finally, he talked about Niko Pena, a junior who is battling for the last outfield position. If he doesn’t wrap up that spot, Pena will be the regular designated hitter.

Coach Bennett likes his team a lot, but acknowledges that they have a very tough road ahead. “I think we have the toughest district in 5A. Carl Albert, Piedmont, McGuinness, and El Reno all have solid programs. At least three of those four teams have made the state tournament the last several years.” With that in mind, coach Bennett says they’ve set just two goals for the season: “get better every day” and “embrace the grind.”

The OSSAA official start date for scrimmages was February 15th. The Bluejays scrimmaged with Perkins-Tryon this past Friday and had a solid showing, putting up double digits on the scoreboard and getting good early work for the pitching staff. The team has home scrimmages scheduled this week on Tuesday the 21st and Friday the 24th. The season kicks off officially on March 2nd, with a home game against Chisholm, first pitch at 4:30pm.