Cedartown is getting ready for loaded start to baseball season

Cedartown High School’s baseball team is hoping to improve upon what was a thrilling season that saw the Bulldogs get into the state playoffs after a fourth-place finish in region play.

Head coach Doyle Kelley thinks his current crew will be just as special as last year’s.

Already the coach is looking at senior and junior leadership to take the field and provide the offense and defense against a strong schedule of games starting this coming week.

Kelley said he’ll be relying on the talents of returning stars like seniors Jack Haney, C.J. Robinson and Will Sanders among others to help out an upcoming young Bulldogs roster looking to make their mark in the coming days.

“Jack ( Haney) has been a big part of our program during the last years, along with C.J.,” Kelley said. “He (C.J.) started off in left field for us for the past couple of years, and has done a great job for us. We’re not sure where he is going to go yet, but we’re looking at putting him at shortstop this year. He’s very versatile, so we have a lot of options where he can play.”

Kelley had a lot of praise for the team so far as they’ve gotten back to practice during the early weeks of January, including Sanders.

The former Rockmart player transferred to Cedartown in 2017 and played last year in several spots, but right now Kelley said his versatility on the field is making it difficult to select the perfect field position for him.

“He’s had a few good weeks of practice and has been a bright spot for us as we’ve gotten started,” he said.

Kelley also added that senior Nick Huddleston is also returning and will lend not only his glove to the defense, but his bat to the offense this year.

“Nick has just been awesome in the outfield, and we’ll be looking to him and others to be leaders this year,” he said.

Pitching duties will mainly be handled by Dalton Bowman and Jack Haney for the 2018 season -- both will also work behind the plate -- but Kelley expects several younger players to get involved as well. Corbin Cuzzourt coming up as a freshman this year also is expected to get some time in on the mound and relieve some of the pressure off the two seniors, Kelley said, and Tyler Dodson will also be coming in to work behind the plate as catcher as well, coming up from the junior varsity squad to fill in positions left open by seniors who went on to school following the 2017 season.

“You lose the quality of players that we lost last year, you are lucky if you have someone to fill in those spots. We lost some great kids too. What those kids accomplished in four years in high school is amazing,” Kelley said. “But we’re fortunate that we have that kind of talent here in town where we can have kids step up and plug into the team and allow us to be successful.”

He also had praise for the work done at second base by Easton Oxenrider, who returns this year as a sophomore

“He’s got a year under his belt, and we expect a lot from him this year,” he said.

Kelley said his squad still has a lot of work to do before the season starts on Feb. 12, when the Bulldogs will host Coosa at 4:30 p.m. this coming Monday. They’ll take on rival Rockmart at home later in the week on Friday in the first of two games between the cross- county foes during non-region play on the Bulldogs schedule.

Also coming to face the Bulldogs at home early is Haralson County on Feb. 19, Chattooga the following day on Feb. 20, and then a trip up to Floyd County at the end of the week on Feb. 23 to face Coosa a second time.

Region play won’t begin until March 20, when the Bulldogs host Cartersville for the opener of 5-AAAA baseball for the year.

Kelley said he expects his team to see tough challenges ahead when playing in a tough region.

“We feel like we can compete and do well. The boys are practicing hard, and that is all that we can ask of them,” Kelley said.