Spartanburg Day Baseball Winding Down On Rebuilding Season Under Coach Travis Dawkins

By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Spartanburg—Nearing the end of his second season as the head baseball coach at Spartanburg Day, former Red’s major leaguer Travis “Gookie” Dawkins is having a great time working with developing young baseball players, regardless of what the record of the Griffins might be.
“Until we are able to develop more pitching depth, I am okay with only scheduling 10 regular season games a year,” said Coach Dawkins. ”We are definitely going to work on getting more games in next season, perhaps as many as 14 to 16.”
As of April, 10 the Griffins were (3-4, 0-2) and they are just coming back off of their Spring break.
Their three wins have come over Hampton Park twice (13-7 and 8-5) and they have defeated Upstate (8-5). The four losses were against Oakbrook Prep, Greenwood Christian, Upstate, and Spartanburg Christian.
“We have only two regular season games left against Spartanburg Christian (April, 21) and Oakbrook Prep (April, 23),” said Coach Dawkins. “I would not mind picking up a game or two if I could find one available.
“Our top two hitters this season have been our shortstop/catcher junior Matty Lyle (.556, 8 RBI’s, three doubles and one triple), and he has focused more on catching lately, and the other top hitter is 8th grade center fielder Lavonte Henderson (.471, 5 RBI’s two doubles and one triple).
“Matty and Jackson Harris are two of our better team leaders,” said Coach Dawkins. “Harris is a freshman short stop/third baseman for us with next level potential if he keeps developing and believing in himself. Harris has pitched five innings for us and he his defense is ahead of his hitting right now.”
Harris bats in the two-hole. On the mound he has worked 11 innings to date with a team leading 11 strike-outs.
Senior catcher Coleman Tolbert has had a fine season as he is currently batting .462 with six RBI’s and six stolen bases. “Coleman has had marked improvement over last year and that is always a good thing,” said Coach Dawkins. “He has been swinging the bat really well this season.”
Gabe Smith plays third base, shortstop, and in the outfield and he is currently batting .375. The teams lead-off batter is LHP Easton Bell, and first year player on the team. Coach Dawkins has referred to Bell as the team’s Bulldog on the mound. Bell has worked 7.6 innings on the mound and he has four K’s. He has the best ERA on the staff at 2.86. At the plate Bell is currently batting .286.
Senior first baseman Luke Bryant bats in the clean-up slot. He has four RBI’s on the season. Senior Brandon Ledford bats in the 7th slot ad he has contributed four RBI’s. Rounding out the batting order for the Griffins is 7th grader second baseman Oakley Humphries who has scored three runs and contributed three hits this season.
Other key reserves making contributions to the team include 7th grade second baseman Kendall Glenn, 8th grader Tyler Fernanders, along with 7th grade catcher/outfielder Charlie Birch.
“We pretty much need to win-out the rest of the season to have a shot at making the play-offs,” said Coach Dawkins. “I have been very impressed with the work ethic on this team.
“When I was a young player trying to learn the game of baseball, as a very young person, I had my own struggles learning the importance of fielding, hitting, and catching a baseball,” said Coach Dawkins. “All a young player can do is to learn from their mistakes, be focused on correcting mistakes and strive to work hard to become a fundamentally sound player. The key is to eventually develop a consistent successful routine.”
Some of the better winning moments this year happened in the team’s 8-5 win over Upstate. In that game Lyle was 2-of-3 with two RBI’s including a triple. In the same win Tolbert contributed a double and one RBI. Henderson also had a double in the game and Harris had a single.
Lyle worked five innings on the mound against Upstate allowing just five hits while striking-out two baters.
When Coach Dawkins was asked if the Griffins had a newcomer MVP this season, he replied. “Bell and Henderson have been very effective at the plate this season and both these guys are getting better with every game.”
Coach Dawkins is assisted by Hunter Gneisig. The team statistician is James Lyle.
