‘A chance to make some noise’: Douglass baseball is looking for breakout season
Heading into the final three weeks of the regular season, Frederick Douglass baseball coach Eddie Brooks has exactly the kind of team coaches dream about — his No. 8 Broncos are talented, deep and experienced.
“I’m finally like everybody else. I have a veteran team. I got a senior-junior dominant team,” Brooks said after the Broncos swept Henry Clay on Thursday to improve their record to 19-5 overall and 5-1 in the 42nd District. “If we show up and play hard every day like we have, then we’ve got a chance to make some noise this year.”
Douglass won six straight games heading into the weekend, including an 8-4 road upset of No. 1 St. Xavier on Wednesday. This season, the Broncos split two-game sets with No. 14 Woodford County and No. 15 Sayre and knocked off No. 20 Tates Creek and previously ranked Lafayette. One of their other three losses was to No. 16 Paul Laurence Dunbar.
It’s a more than respectable record for a team Brooks has helped build from scratch. This is only Douglass’ sixth season as a program. The Broncos have been ranked in the PrepBaseballReport.com’s top 10 most of this year.
“We haven’t got too caught up in what we’re ranking, top 10, top five, whatever,” catcher Jack Gross said. “(Not worrying about rankings) I think has really helped keep us focused, kind of keep us locked in and not get too cocky.”
The reasons for the Broncos’ success are obvious. As Brooks said, he has five seniors and eight juniors to help lead the team and some of the underclassmen are exceptional.
Four players have already committed to continue their baseball career at the the college level, most notably junior righthander Thomas Howard, (4-1, 2.06 ERA) a Louisville commit, and sophomore lefthander Leighton Harris, a Kentucky commit.
Eastern Kentucky commit Gavin Faulkner, a 6-1 senior, leads the team with a 6-0 record and 1.15 ERA. He also hits for a .324 average with a team high 31 RBI and nine home runs.
Both Howard and Harris stand 6-3, are multi-sport athletes and swing a mean bat in addition to their pitching and fielding duties (with a .293 and .345 average, respectively). Although Harris got roughed up on the mound early in the season after returning from a basketball-related wrist injury, he has picked up a win and a save since in limited action with Howard and Faulkner getting most of the starts.
The lineup also features a pair of three-star football prospects — Ty Bryant, a 6-1 junior and UK football commit, and Jeremiah Lowe, an uncommitted 5-11 junior with football offers including EKU and Miami (Ohio). Lowe leads the team in hitting with a .418 average. Bryant leads the Broncos with 24 stolen bases and is tied with Harris for the lead in runs scored with 27.
It was Bryant who delivered an electrifying inside-the-park grand slam against Henry Clay in their rain-interrupted game earlier this season.
Anthony Jackson, a 6-0 senior outfielder, recently committed to Kentucky State. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI against St. X on Wednesday and has only committed one error all season. Designated hitter RJ Parks and catcher Gross, both uncommitted juniors, are hitting .370 and .304, respectively. Starting infielder Cameron Dunn, a 5-11 junior and three-sport standout, was the football team’s second leading scorer behind Bryant and second leading receiver behind the much-heralded Dane Key, who’s now at UK.
The pitching staff has also seen exceptional performances from juniors Braxton Burse (3-1, 2.15 ERA with three saves) and Hunter Smith (3-1, 0.39 ERA and a save).
Make no mistake, the Broncos have high expectations. What can they do?
“Hopefully, a pretty good run for state this year,” Gross said. “That’s really what we’re looking for. We’ve already shown we can beat the No. 1 team … . So, I’m expecting us to go pretty far this year.”
That might be difficult given that defending 42nd District champion Sayre and three other Lexington teams are ranked. Plus there’s No. 13 Madison Central sure to be waiting for someone in the region tournament.
A win over a team like St. X goes to show something, though.
“If we play to our ability and don’t worry about anyone else, just play and be the team that we are, we have a shot to win and beat any team in the state,” Brooks said. “We’ve got a shot to win every ball game we play.”
