Port Arthur, Mid County baseball teams see room for improvement as district nears

Published 12:10 am Thursday, March 10, 2022

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A few weeks into the baseball season, local teams have a fairly good idea of where they need to improve before district starts next week.

PNG started the season 3-9, but Head Coach Scott Carter said his squad could easily be 10-2 if not for a poor inning here and there.

“Right now, we are playing six innings,” he said. “We got one bad inning we never can shake. We still have some work to do. We have been in a lot of baseball games. We have played some really good opponents and had some opportunities in games that have gotten away from us.”

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Carter said his team needs fine-tuning in every aspect before starting district play against Nederland over spring break.

“We are just trying to fix everything,” he said. “We are trying to let the kids know to keep playing and keep working hard. They just have to keep building team chemistry and see what happens down the road. Right now, we just have to continue to play and stay focus.”

Despite the slow start, Carter said the team has players to lean on.

“Caleb Faulk is playing really well,” Carter said. “Cole Crippin is playing really well. We have some guys that are doing a really good job for us. Mason Hernandez is throwing really well. We are just making some mistakes behind him. We have some guys that are doing a really good job. We just have to continue to put the whole package together.”

Nederland is 2-3 on the season and will participate in the Jasper tournament over the weekend.

Memorial, which started the season 0-3, will also play in a tournament this weekend. The Titans travel to Silsbee Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They will play Liberty Thursday and play Lumberton at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

“We are getting better every day,” Memorial Head Coach Ahmad Smith said. “We have some guys that are leaders and have been here four years on varsity. We have some freshmen that are picking up the slack in areas that we need them to.”

Smith said seniors Emmanuel Garcia and David Jacobo are setting the tone for the team.

The coach said freshmen Mark DeJohn, Ariel Kithler and Abel Garcia are showing promise.

“We have to get better defensively,” Smith said. “We have to get better at making the simple plays and doing the simple things. We just need to get some experience with these tournaments. We are getting them ready for district play.”

The Titans will start district play against Barbers Hill Tuesday.