(March 22, 2013) Some new, young talent has joined Stephen Decatur Coach Rich Ferro’s roster this season. They’ll join seven veteran Seahawks on the Stephen Decatur baseball team.
“We have three seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen, so we’re pretty evenly dispersed amongst the grades,” Ferro said. “We have young guys, but there’s some experienced guys who have been in the program a few years.”
Grant Donahue (third base/pitcher), Justin Meekins (short stop) and Austin Dundore (utility) are sophomores, but they were full-time contributors last year as freshmen, when the team went 15-4. The 2012 season ended with a 9-2 loss to Centennial in the 3A East Regional quarterfinals.
Seahawks also returning to the field are senior Dallas Harrington (center field/outfield) and junior Chase Coursey (second base/pitcher). Both have played three years for Decatur.
“Since we lost four great seniors and a lot of leadership, I feel like I have a big role to fill leading the younger kids … show[ing] them what they need to do and how to play the game right, the SD baseball way — just fundamentals, always having a good attitude and always respecting the game,” Harrington said.
Added Coursey, “I got to come up with good seniors to teach me and help me through everything, so hopefully I can show the younger guys what I was taught.”
Senior Chase Church (outfield/second/third base) will play a much larger role this year, said Ferro, who is now in his sixth season at the helm. Freshmen utility players, Lane Dillon and Zach Adams, will also contribute.
Decatur had scrimmages last Saturday and overall, Ferro said, the games went well.
“We saw some good things and some things we need to work on. Our pitching has been strong and our overall team defense is solid,” he said.
“We’ll probably have some growing pains that we will have to work through because it’s a young group, but [the goal is] to get better every day.”
