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BC varsity baseball players gear up for this year’s season.

Katie Powell

February 21, 2012

The eagerness from the smell of freshly cut grass and the start of baseball season has brought excitement to the Bluefield Rams Players and BC students. 

With three big games against Southern Wesleyan in South Carolina, the Varsity Baseball team took two out of three games.  The starting pitcher was Matt Whidden, and Joey Andrews came in to help him finish up the first game for the BC Rams. 

The BC Rams had a slow start, but soon showed Southern Wesleyan what they were made of.  Joe Gatewood, Zach Goodyear, Will Simpson, and Jamie Blackwell helped the team pick up their speed throughout the first two games.  By the end of the day BC Rams had a 2-1 in the conference.   

Fellow returning varsity baseball teammates Joe Gatewood and Joey Andrews recently discussed the upcoming season.  Golden Glove award winning player Joe Gatewood also talked about what he has to offer this baseball season of 2012. 

“It was an honor winning the golden glove award last year; it just showed the hard work I put defensively,” Gatewood said.  “I feel this year will be no different.  My job is to back up the infield, track down balls, and prevent extra bases hits and runs.  I feel like myself and the rest of the outfielders are able to do these things at a high level consistently throughout the year.”  

With help from Gatewood, the varsity baseball team should not see any problems with help from their outfielders.  Gatewood also discussed the 2012 season and what he thinks his team has to offer.

“The way I view the season is we have all the pieces to win pitching, hitting and defense,” Gatewood said.  “Everybody needs to do their ability and stay within themselves, and that will make our team succeed.  We have great team chemistry and coaches so I expect big things from us this year.”

Returning player Andrews hopes to beat the team’s two biggest rivals this year, Tennessee Wesleyan and Union College, and Andrews said he knows that with the team they have this year there should be no problem with succeeding in these games. 

“We are positioned to be a top competitor in the league this year;  if we play together and have positive contributions then we can have a lot of success, “Andrews said.

The biggest hitters this year are Gatewood, Zach Goodyear and Cameron Hayes, who led the team in 2011.  The big pitchers this year are freshmen Justin Lykins, Zach Russell-Myers, and Matt Whidden.  All freshmen are hard-throwing right-handed pitchers expected to carry a lot of responsibility. 

“This year I hope for our team to win 40 games, to give our team an opportunity to win in seven to eight quality starting appearances and to help lead our younger teammate to learn the successful nature to our program,” Andrews said. 

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