Greyhounds baseball navigating rocky road

Fort Scott Community College sophomore right fielder Austin Oakes, of Saginaw, Texas, takes batting practice Wednesday afternoon at Lions Field on the campus of Fort Scott Community College. The Greyhounds, who started out the year 9-2, are battling injuries and have lost 10 of their last 11 games. (Matthew Resnick/Tribune)

Editor's Note: This story was published in a previous edition of the Tribune but was not placed online at the time. The Tribune apologizes for the delay in posting this story.

Several key injuries have slowed the Fort Scott Community College baseball team's early season momentum.

The Greyhounds (10-12, 2-10), who started out the year with a pristine 9-2 record, have now dropped 10 of their last 11 games, which includes a current five-game losing skid. Of FSCC's 12 losses this year, seven of those have been by 1 run.

"We were off to a great start, ranked in the top 25, and then we had a rash of injuries," John Hill, FSCC head coach said Wednesday. "No junior college (team) will have a ton of talent as far as depth. We had to dig into our depth a little bit. We've been in every game, we've just kind of been going without a full deck. And guys are starting to get healthy. We also had a very difficult part of our schedule early on. So we're going to keep pressing. It's been up and down to this point."

Key injuries to the Greyhound roster include: starting first baseman and 2-hole hitter Josh Griffith, starting third baseman and cleanup hitter Kaden Shaffer, and closer and starting right fielder Sam Gilbert. Hill said Griffith and Shaffer were both dealing with hamstring injuries while Gilbert was dealing with a pulled quad in addition to a sore elbow.

Griffith carried a .375 batting average through 13 games played. Shaffer was hitting .320 with 3 home runs and 3 stolen bases through 16 games. And Gilbert has a .312 batting average while appearing in 18 games so far this year. Hill said the injured players while not fully recovered, are progressing towards full health.

"Those are some of the things that are tough to overcome," Hill said. "They are working back. They're kind of playing and sitting. They're not 100 percent back, but they're at least to the point where they can play one of the two games of a doubleheader."

Hill said the injury to his top closer Gilbert has not had a major impact on the team thus far.

"We've only blown one save," Hill said. "So it hasn't really been that 'We had the lead and we blew it.' It's just been through the course of the game, they've been 1-run better, whether that's luck or whether that's just things worked out better (for the opponent). Honestly, we've played very competitive baseball. It's just tough to lose by 1-run."

Hill said generating consistent run production is one area he would like to see his team make strides in.

"We're pretty good early in the game and pretty good late in the game. But the middle of the game we haven't had the base runners and haven't had the run production," he said. "And defensively, the same thing. We're pretty good early and pretty good late. In the middle of the game we kind of have a little bit of a lull. So we might make an error or two. It's pretty much the middle of the game where we need to improve."

Hill said he has been impressed with the leadership skills of Greyhound catcher Alex Copeland. Copeland, a sophomore from Broken Arrow, Okla., has a .364 batting average, with 20 hits in 55 plate appearances.

"He's done a great job of keeping the guys together. His leadership has been very good," Hill said.

Another player Hill has been impressed with to this point in the season is southpaw pitcher Aaron Mason, also out of Broken Arrow, Okla. Mason, a sophomore, has 23 strike outs in 26 innings of work, to go along with a 2.77 earned run average.

"He has been the guy on the mound we needed him to be," Hill said. "We've had some other nice surprises. Miles Wagner has done a little bit better on the mound than we originally expected. Jake Harvey has done more offensively at this point than we expected. But all-in-all, as a group, we need to get better, too."

Despite the team's rocky road of late, Hill said the Greyhounds remain upbeat and focused.

"We do a lot of things right," Hill said. "I wouldn't say to this point that we've identified 'Hey, we're going to throw up a bunch of runs,' or that we're just going to dominate on the mound. If I had to say one aspect (we excel in) it's not necessarily a baseball aspect. It's team camaraderie, chemistry and togetherness. I'd say that's probably the biggest strength that we have at this point."