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With a squad composed primarily of underclassmen, Mark Arrington’s spring has been an entertaining one to say the least. There have been times his team has shown great promise. There have also been times where his young squad has struggled.
“When you’ve got a group of young kids like this you never know what to expect,” Arrington said. “You never are sure how they’re going to come out.”
But after slipping past the Jefferson District’s first place team, Louisa County, this past Friday, the Greene Dragons are feeling good about their direction. At an even .500 in the district, Monroe is right in the middle of the race with big games against a pair of teams above them in Orange County and Goochland still to come.
“These last few games it’s been complete focus,” Arrington said. “They’re starting to believe in themselves and come together. And it’s like this in any baseball season. It’s not about getting hot, it’s about when you get hot. I’d rather start 0-10 and then turn it on at the end of district play. I think we’re starting to hit our stride right now.”
Not surprisingly, the Dragons have been leaning hard on one of the area’s most consistent players in Danny Morris. But recently Arrington’s sophomore class has made major contributions, both on the mound, behind the plate and in the batters box.
Ryan Morris, Logan Forloines and Jordan Gentry are three of the sophomores that have been getting the job done recently. One of the three is in the starting pitching rotation, Ryan Morris, and he has become more and more reliable on the rubber for Arrington as the season has progressed. With his ERA improving, Morris has earned the trust of his teammates and as such the team has been able to worry more about scoring runs than giving them up.
Forloines, who was heavily featured as a running back on the football team in the fall, and Gentry, a sharp shooting guard this winter during basketball season, have brought their athleticism to the diamond and contributed both on offense and defense and have helped to bring some much needed energy to the team.
“(Those three) feed off of each other,” Arrington said. “They’ve been playing together for so long and they know what to expect from each other.”
Now it’s just a matter of keeping it going. A few weeks ago the JD race was looking pretty mundane. But a lot has changed since then. And while moving up into first place to nab a Region II bid before the tournament might prove to be out of reach, should the Dragons stay hot they’ll give themselves a great chance to make some noise when the chips are down.
