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Season Preview: Nashville High School

February 19, 2015

By: Zac Bottoms
Arkansas Scouting Director

Head Coach: Kyle Slayton
High School: Nashville High School
Conference: 7-4A
Mascot: Scrappers

PBR: What are your expectations for your team this spring? 

Coach Slayton: We are very young.  Have 3 starters coming back from last year’s team.  Our total numbers are down right now.  We have 3 small classes. 5 seniors, 1 junior, 5 freshman.  We are going to have to start 6 sophomores and only 1 of them has any Varsity experience.

PBR: Who is going to be your key contributors on the mound this spring?

Coach Slayton: Senior Lucas Liggin will be our #1, Senior Nick Myers is going to have to pitch some this year, Sophomores Preston Pope, Hunter White, Zach Jamison and Freshman Tyler Hanson and Chris Willard.

PBR: For your offense to be effective who do you expect to set the table? Who do you expect to drive in runs?

Coach Slayton: Senior Nick Myers will set the table.  He is as good a hitter as I have ever had here at Nashville.  He brings a lot of intensity and hopefully leadership to our team.  He will hit in the 3 hole and hopefully drive in lots of runs.  Lucas Liggin is a returning starter that will hit in the middle of the order and will be expected to drive in runs and bring leadership.  Sophomore Zach Jamison is a returning starter on the infield and will hit in the 2 hole.  Zach is a very good young player that started most of the year last year as a 9th grader.  He has lots of baseball savvy.  Seniors Jackson Beavert, Chas Scott and Braden Hood are going to be penciled in starters early in the year.  Beavert at 2B/OF and Scott will probably be the opening day LF.  Hood is a big strong kid that is probably going to DH for us this year. 

PBR: Which Underclassmen do you need to step up and fill a void by last year’s seniors?

Coach Slayton: We have many underclassmen that are going to have to grow up fast.  Sophomore Trace Beene is a likely candidate to play CF and be our leadoff hitter.  Sophomores Preston Pope will play some OF and be a top 4 pitcher, Dalton Smead is a sophomore who will handle most of the catching duties.  Smead has a +++ arm behind the plate.  Soph Hunter White will be our 2 or 3 arm and will play 1B/3B when not pitching more than likely.  Freshman Tyler Hanson and Chris Willard might contribute on the mound and in the field before the season is over.

PBR: Who is the team to beat in your conference/ your classification?

Coach Slayton: Arkadelphia is the reigning back to back State Champions so they will be the preseason #1 and they have plenty of very good players to do it again.  Malvern has a new coach and should be competitive as always.  Sleeper team could be Bauxite with Superb all-around athlete Ben Madison.  I saw him at XtraInnings last summer…he ran a 6.5 and was 91-92 off the mound and Coach Maddox has a very good Soph class to put around him.  Ashdown always has good players but they graduated a big senior class last year like us.

PBR: What is your biggest non-conference game and why?

Coach Slayton: We play a couple of good non-conference games. The first will be March 10 at SAU vs North Webster from Springhill LA.  Coach Dane Peavy is the new coach down there and he has a very good mix of 10th graders and then some very good seniors.  We look forward to playing them.  We also play Harding Academy on March 31 at UCA.  Coach Fullerton does an excellent job and we expect them to very good like they always are.  Our kids will be challenged and we get to play at 2 college fields which are awesome for the high schoolers

PBR: What tournaments is your team attending this spring?

Coach Slayton: We are hosting the 11th Annual Ralph Gross Memorial Tournament March 5-7(Crossett, Prairie Grove, Magnolia, Pine Bluff, Nashville, Horatio, Star City, and Redwater TX) Very good field!

We Also will be in the Horatio Invitational March 12-14

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