Bulldogs rolling as coach notches milestone victory

Published 12:32 am Thursday, March 31, 2022

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NEDERLAND — Nederland Baseball Coach Bryan Spell earned a milestone win Tuesday, but was unaware of the accomplishment until a rival head coach alerted him to it.

Spell earned his 100th career victory in a game against Vidor, a 3-2 Bulldogs win.

The coach said while he was flattered to reach the milestone, he did not know about it until PNG Coach Scott Carter told him before the game.

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“I only knew before the game because Coach Carter texted me earlier in the day,” Spell said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it until he said something. It wasn’t a huge thing to me. Us winning that one game was good enough.”

Spell appreciates that former and current players have congratulated him.

“It was good to have them reach out,” he said. “Some saw it on social media and congratulated me.”

Spell considers himself fortunate to be at Nederland, a place where players work really hard and are tough.

“There are a lot of great coaches around the state that can coach this game and do a great job of motivating young men,” he said. “I am fortunate to be with kids that can get the job done the way ours can. While it is very flattering, I understand that the kids do most of the work.”

Nederland Athletic Director Monte Barrow said the program is happy to have Spell.

“He is great with young men and young boys developing to be young men,” he said. “Those wins are a byproduct of that. It is always good to have a program that is used to winning and wins on a consistent basis. That helps their confidence more than anything.”

Spell said he is equally proud of the work his team has done over the past few games.

“We have been a little bit thin,” he said. “We are gaining confidence… Noah Kendrick got on the mound and threw well. We had some guys get big hits. In this sport, you need confidence.”

The team has dealt with a lot of adversity leading into district play, Spell said.

“There has been a lot more adversity than I have seen in years past,” he said. “They come to work every day. It is tough to talk about consistency with the adversity they have had, but I think we are in a position to be more consistent going forward.”