The Gatewood Gators baseball team begins its 2024 season as defending state champions for the first time since the 1992 season.
But more importantly, the Gators return plenty of experience.
Gatewood has been to three consecutive state championship series under fourth-year head coach Brandon Moss, who has helped build the baseball program to rank among the best in the GIAA. Moss expects the Gators to stay at the top again this season.
The Gators return their entire starting lineup from last season, including 2023 Class AA Player of the Year Walker Roberts, who will be asked to start on the mound and at the plate. This is a rare occurrence, especially at the high school level, and Moss recognizes the importance of having so much returning talent.
“This group has been tested thoroughly the last three years and this year will be no different,” Moss said. “We are playing a pretty tough schedule, with the goal of helping these players take their game to the next level and hopefully head into the playoffs more prepared than ever before.”
Roberts batted .344, had 25 RBIs, and homered eight times in 74 plate appearances last season. Just as impressively, he went 5-1 on the mound and finished with a 1.04 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 13 appearances last season.
“Anytime you have a sophomore win the Player of the Year award, you know you have something really special,” Moss said of Roberts. “He’s as special as they come and it’s not just with the arm. He provides incredible production with the bat, but his unsung ability is his ability to play so many different positions on the field.”
The Gators will also look to Wilson Moore, John Wallace Thompson, and Lawson Wooten to once more play big roles in their pitching rotation and at the plate this season. All three players got significant playing time on the mound and all three had winning records at the end of last season.
Additionally, Caleb Riser and Ames Johnson each had more than 20 stolen bases last season and both batted over .300 for the year. Hunter Johnson and Wooten both had double-digit stolen bases as well.
Significantly, Moss said he believes the Gators will be even better on the base paths this season.
“I think that we will surpass last year’s aggressiveness on the bases,” he said. “That is one of our most dynamic assets, our ability to be super aggressive on the bases.”
In the field, the Gators return a team that fielded 0.928 percent on the season and had 508 putouts, both of which are well above the national average at the high school level. The Gators certainly know who will start at most positions, but their tough early season schedule will give the team some good battles and maybe some early season growing pains.
“I think it will be tough from a competition standpoint, but I think it will serve its purpose well by exposing our weaknesses and inconsistencies sooner and more often than years past. So, we get an earlier start to shoring up those aspects of our game,” Moss said of the Gators’ early schedule.
“It forces you to adapt and be open-minded about how you are doing things and ways to get better. That’s the goal,” he added. “It’s not to win a bunch of games, but to make sure we are prepared to win the most important games.”
The Gators will get their 2024 season going by hosting Westfield on Feb. 27 and defending Class AAAA state champions Strong Rock Christian on March 1 as part of their early season stretch.