Central Baseball focuses on trust, wins district championship

When Central’s baseball team needed a coach last November, special education case manager Brandon Roberts stepped up to the plate.

He had nine seniors who had gone through the COVID season where there were no games. He was the team’s third head coach in four years.

“You can imagine coming in and getting 17-year-old children to trust you. It wasn’t easy,” said Roberts. “This year, it was really big to be able to start from the beginning of the year. It has been a lot more consistent, and that helped gain their trust. We have had relatively successful juniors and seniors believing in themselves.”

It is that consistency that Roberts attributes to their success. “Our longest winning streak was three games,” he said. “But we never lost more than two in a row. There was never a big cold streak.

“One of the team’s big mantras was ‘Process > Results’. No matter if we won a game or got run over, the message stayed consistent. How you treat people is more important than what happens on the field. That has been the main reason we are in this position without a lot of ups and downs.”

On the path to the district championship, the Central team won four straight games, leaving them undefeated when they faced off against Campbell County.

“We run ruled them and went on to play Powell, the powerhouse for the past five to eight years,” said Roberts. “We beat them in a one-run game. It was a really loud environment and a tough place to play.”

Central was down by three runs and came back in the last innings to tie the game and eventually win in extra innings against Oak Ridge. Freshman Nick Riordan had the biggest hit of the game, according to Roberts.

After Oak Ridge beat Powell, they played Central again. “We had to beat them again on their home field and that’s what we did,” said Roberts. The final score was 2-0.

Junior Miles Johnson pitched in the last three games for Central. “If there was an MVP it would have been him,” said Roberts. “He closed out our season.”

Other standout players include junior Andrew Hill, who has already committed to play at ETSU after he graduates.

“He has not committed to play anywhere yet, but senior Trey Lyons, sophomore Cole Wessel and a bunch of our freshmen will have the ability to go and play in college,” Roberts said.

Central teacher Mike Smith was given the game ball after the big district win. “He has been at the school since 1994,” said Roberts. “He teaches math and is a mentor to five or six of our guys and is out there every day, so we gave it to him.”

In an effort to establish a positive team atmosphere this season, Roberts emailed the kids who attended Central’s summer baseball program and asked them if they wanted to be a batboy for the 2022-23 season.

“It was really special for the kids to be around us. It keeps the players accountable in how they treat each other and the language they use in the dugout to have a 7-year-old around,” Roberts said.

Another important thing Roberts said they did was carving out time to spend together outside of baseball.

“We had a pasta party and a big team dinner the night before the season began,” he said. “We had parents make a bunch of spaghetti and lasagna, everything you can think of. Another night my wife and I hosted the guys in our home, grilled out and watched some college baseball.”

As for next season, Roberts said they will lose their starting catcher, first baseman and designated hitter to graduation. “We are losing three key pieces in the lineup, but we do have a really good junior class and a big freshman class,” he added.

Since Central won the district championship in an odd year (2023), they had the opportunity to host the regionals at their home field at Tommy Schumpert Park in Fountain City to end the year.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Knoxville Central High baseball team overcame issues to win