Alderson starts 12th season coaching Chiefs baseball

By John Smithson

BA Alderson was blowing dirt off his infield grass when I arrived for an interview last Friday afternoon, nothing out of the ordinary for a hands-on veteran coach entering his 12th year as head coach at North Myrtle Beach High School.

Alderson stated he had three scrimmages so far this spring but would be doing self-scrimmages until the season began. Although his team has been ranked in the top ten 5A schools in preseason polls, Alderson relies on performance by his players in judging how well his Chiefs will do.

“This group is just about as talented as the previous groups we have had over the last five or six years. We feel like we have enough talent to win. It’s just are we going to play well enough to win. That’s what it boils down to. We have to perform when the lights come on,” Alderson said.

I asked about his offense. “I think our hitting is going to be better than last year. We’ve spent a lot of time, and the kids have put a lot of effort into correcting some things and coming up with better plans when they get in the batters’ box. They put their time in so I think it will translate to game success.”

Alderson then pointed out two keys to his team’s success. “We usually hang our hat on pitching and defense. That’s who we are, our identity. I don’t think there will be a drop-off in those categories. We probably will be a little better on the mound because we will be deeper than we were last year. We pretty much have the same kids as last year and got most of our pitchers back. The same guys will be available to pitch, but they are a year older and several of them have improved from last year to this year.”

As far as starting rotation, Alderson said they hadn’t defined all the roles as yet. “We feel that Gabriel Priest will probably be one of our starters, and we have several other options after him. Sawyer Smith is going to be one of our main guys whether he is a starter or closer. We also have Andrew Munday, Noah Nance and Fisher Nichols. So, we have some guys we can run out there.”

As for region 6 competition Alderson doesn’t use the term easy. “All of the other region teams have a lot of returning players, more so than we did. We graduated quite a few players, especially position players. If you look at other team rosters it looks like they have everybody back. It’s going to be competitive.”

Prior to the first scheduled game with South Florence on March 11th the Chiefs will play in the Coastal Invitational Tournament March 5th through 8th at Waccamaw High School. “We typically use that preseason tournament as extra scrimmage games that give our kids some opportunities and help us make some decisions on who might stay in the lineup, or who we need to flip-flop in and out of the lineup until somebody gets hot. Obviously, you want to win every game you play, but I think we use the tournament every year to really make personnel decisions for the season.”

Alderson stated he has all his coaching staffs back for all baseball teams in the program. “At this stage of the season we just have to try and get ready and be prepared,” Alderson said.”

Like he said, “We have to perform when the lights come on”