The Putnam County baseball team enjoyed some relaxation last week during spring break. Now, the War Eagles are set to begin the final stretch of the season before the start of Class AA playoffs.
Putnam County will face region opponents Laney and Westside (Augusta) this week. The War Eagles will then close out the regular season with two games against Washington County next week.
According to Putnam County head coach Mike Phiel, his team “isn’t worried” about next week.
“Going into Tuesday, we are focused on Laney, Laney and Laney,” Phiel said. “On Wednesday, we will start to worry about Westside (Augusta). Not worry about next week but just take things day-by-day.”
Putnam County entered the week in third place in the Region 4-AA standings behind Westside and Thomson. However, anything can happen in the final two weeks of the season in terms of seeding.
“That’s just baseball,” Phiel said. “Any team can beat the other on any day. That’s why we play it.”
The War Eagles already played Westside once this season but lost 4-3 in extra innings. They also competed with Thomson, splitting the two-games series even in the week leading up to spring break.
Phiel has a lot of faith in his players, despite a majority being underclassmen with not a lot of varsity experience. He’s seen them grow throughout the last couple of months of the regular season.
“Everybody has had to settle in and figure out where they’re going to play and what is expected of them,” Phiel said a few weeks ago. “It’s taken a while, and we’re not there yet, but I think we are on the right track. We’ve got a strong freshmen class and they make up almost half of our program.”
Either way, he’s also relying on his veteran players to guide them after being in this situation before.
“Our older guys understand what is asked of them,” Phiel said. “Those that have been on playoff teams in the past have that experience and I have seen them be leaders already by the way they express their actions. The way they take bus rides seriously to away games, the way they have been focusing at practice. They are setting an example for the younger guys that haven’t been here yet.”
The break last week was especially good for Putnam County’s pitching staff, which is made up of three mainstays on the mound: Ashton Jones, Hunter Holder and Gates Lanzarone.
The play of these three players will be crucial to Putnam County’s success down the stretch to end the regular season, and even going into Class AA state playoffs, which begin April 22.
“Ashton, Hunter and Gates have carried a lot of the load. We ask a lot of them,” Phiel said. “We also have some role guys in the bullpen who we call upon, too, but those guys are our main three. We will rely on them to help us on the mound going into the final few weeks of the regular season.”
But Phiel said he hoped his entire team got a lot of rest and relaxation over the break because now it’s time to “grind.”
“This part of the season is just a grind. We have to have a maximum effort from everybody,” he said. “We are going to be playing some tough teams (in the next few weeks). We will have to be ready.”