Luttrell leads Bob Jones in early season action
MADISON- So far so good in the return to the mound for senior Ford Luttrell. He is 2-0 with 28 strikeouts as he comes back from elbow and shoulder injuries last year.
“He is exceeding expectations coming off elbow surgery,” said Bob Jones head baseball coach Jared Smith. “He has been almost unhittable and dominating in his two games. We will be all right in his games we just got to figure out how to win some games with the other guys.”
Bob Jones played some of the best teams in the state to start the season. They lost 7-2 to Hoover, 5-3 to Vestavia Hills, 10-2 to Cullman, and 1-0 to Hewitt.
Coleton Barnes , Austin East, and Brendan Bickleman pitched as starters in those games and took losses.
“Those tough games are going to help us now that we are playing some winnable games and not facing a team with 5 SEC signees like Cullman or an SEC pitcher. We have been in some close games we just didn’t close out like against Spain Park.”
Bob Jones has wins over Thompson 11-1, Ardmore 5-0, and Westminster Christian 10-0.
The two freshmen on varsity are getting lots of playing time.
Dylan Ray picked got his first win on the season against Westminster. When he is not pitching he plays third base.
“He has looked really good,” Smith said. “We just got to get his pitch count up. He has been playing well defensively at third.”
Caden Rose sprained his MCL and was out for a week but is back and playing shortstop.
One big question for Smith is replacing Zach Duvall at shortstop.
“We are still rotating at shortstop,” Smith said. “Mitch Daly and Chase Smith has played there and we feel good about them. All three have shown good things and some things they need to improve on. Chase can roll to second base also.”
Smith said that Connor Daly has been solid at catcher. He hit a two run homer against Hoover.
“He has made the move very well. He has thrown out more base runners already than we threw out all last season. He is still working to maintain focus for seven innings and working on his footwork and blocking pitches.”
John Michael Riley has been hitting well and plays outfield along with Dylan Patel, Luttrell, Andrew Gravel, and others.
Coleton Barnes is moving from relief pitcher to starting role and is off to a slow start but Smith isn’t worried.
“We have put him against the better competition. He’s going to come around. He is proven. During this stretch of games at Gulf Shores over spring break we are going to work him some out of the bullpen.”
Smith released his area game schedule and Sparkman is up first the weekend of April 6-8, then Buckhorn and James Clemens the following weekends.
