Coach Randy Carlyle will be returning to the position of head coach for the Dillon Christian School Warriors this season as the Warriors look to improve on a tough 2014 season.
Carlyle previously coached the varsity Warriors from 2007 to 2013 but stepped down to the Junior Varsity team last season to fill a vacant position and work with his son, who was playing on the JV team. This year will mark his eighth year of coaching varsity baseball for the Warriors.
He is joined on the coaching staff by former Warrior Stephen Johnson. Johnson was a three year starter for the Warriors before graduating in 2010. He graduated from North Greenville University in 2014 with a degree in Sports Management.
“We are delighted to have a former player and alumni join the coaching staff,” Carlyle said.
Both coaches will be looking to improve over last season, where the Warriors picked up only two wins. But Carlyle is hopeful.
“We hope to be very competitive this year,” he said. “There has been some realignment with our region in SCISA. We will now be playing Florence Christian as a region opponent this year. Florence Christian has always had a strong baseball program. They will be a tough opponent for us.”
Carlyle noted that the other teams in Class 2A will also be a challenge, including The King’s Academy, Trinity-Byrnes, Marlboro Academy, Pee Dee Academy, and Carolina Academy. And the Warriors will also face non-region challenges from Emmanuel Baptist, Antioch Christian, and Scotland Christian.
The Warriors lost three seniors, but are returning seven, including seniors Ellison Rourke and Landry Collins, both three-year starters.
“Collins, a left-hander with excellent control, will be the core of the Warrior pitching rotation,” Carlyle said. “Rourke will be anchoring the outfield in center field and will be rotating in with catching duties.”
Juniors Connor Hamilton, Jake Boykin, Isaac Hendrix, Jesse Miller, and Ethan Shackelford will also be returning and are all first-year starters.
“Hamilton and Hendrix will be playing key position roles in the infield,” Carlyle explained. “Boykin will return this season as the Warrior starter catcher and will join the pitching rotation this year. Miller and Shackelford will be playing in the outfield.”
The lineup will also include newcomers Thomas Evans and Nick Smith. Carlyle says Evans is “a strong throwing right-hander” and plans to have him in the pitching rotation as well as the infield. Smith will also play a key role in the pitching rotation.
The team also includes freshmen Ross Carlyle, Garrett Collins, and Hamilton Hodges in the infield and outfield. Carlyle will also catch, and Hodges will do some relief pitching.
While he notes that the team has some work to do, he says that there is some experience on the field.
“We feel confident that we are a better team than last year,” he said. “Although we only have a 12-man roster, almost every player can play multiple positions. We feel good about having options with different lineups and are confident that we can move guys around depending on which pitcher is starting for any given game. Many teams don’t have that luxury and we feel very optimistic about our chances this year.”
“Pitching is always a concern for any team,” he added. “We must have pitchers who can throw deep into a game and have excellent control. We have a good rotation this year and will look for their arms to stay healthy and strong to be competitive.
“We also must be strong at the plate hitting,” he said, “and to contend in our region we will have to be able to score runs and take advantage of opponents’ mistakes. We have some speed on the bases and once we get someone on base, we will have to be able to score often to be a contender in our region.”
The Warriors opened the regular season on Tuesday night with a loss to Trinity-Byrnes. Evans had two hits in the effort and Boykin had one. Collins took the loss on the mound, striking out four and allowing six runs and six walks.
