While many high school students in Santa Rosa County were enjoying their spring break, Pace High School baseball team remained busy playing games throughout the week. However, playing during the weeklong break comes with the territory.
“It’s pretty tough on us,” said Tyler Sharp, who plays shortstop and pitcher for PHS. “We would love to have a spring break, but we got games so we are here to do our jobs and win games.”
The Patriots won two and lost two games during the weeklong stretch, leaving the team with a current record of 10-4 and a district record of 5-1. In addition to having losses to Milton High School and Pensacola Catholic High School, Pace also suffered defeats from unfamiliar opponents in traveling out-of-state teams from Tennessee and Georgia.
Playing unfamiliar opponents can pose as a challenge for any baseball team, said PHS head baseball coach Jason McBride.
“You don’t know anything about them, you don’t know what hitters can do what, you don’t know what they got on the mound,” McBride said. “You are kind of making adjustments first time through the lineup to the hitters…usually when you facing everybody in district play you kind of have an idea when each hitter comes up.”
While two out-of-state teams handed the PHS team a pair of losses, the Patriots did defeat a team from Byng, Oklahoma on Thursday. McBride said playing out-of-state teams could benefit the team as the season progresses.
“Hopefully that prepares us for down the road because we have seen some pretty good pitching,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to playing through the playoffs, so hopefully that prepares us to get there.”
Sharp, a senior on the team, likes where the team is heading thus far this season.
“We are playing pretty well in our district, we are hitting the ball well,” Sharp said. “Sometimes we don’t execute and that’s what is happening in the games that we lost.”
Senior teammate Chase Lambert, who plays pitcher and outfielder, feels confident about how the season is progressing.
“We are coming together now,” he said. “We started off really good, we just made some mistakes and we are starting to pick it back up.”
Fellow senior classmate Vann Goodloe, who plays outfielder, also feels confident about the rest of the season.
“I can feel like we are gelling together as a team,” he said. “If we can keep our bats going, we will probably have a pretty successful season because we have a pretty good defense.”
Regardless of how the season continues, McBride does not doubt the team’s attitude towards the game.
“They have never lost their confidence,” McBride said. “They come ready to play every day and they practice the same way.”
The Patriots will travel to Crestview High School on Monday night. The team will then face district opponents Pensacola High School on Tuesday and Booker T. Washington High School on Friday.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Baseball: Patriots look to improve upon winning record