Gilmer High School baseball is set to wrap up its summer training this week with its annual trip to Berry College.
The Bobcats graduated two starters off last season’s team, and head coach Jeff Thurman and staff used the first two weeks of the offseason to set the tone and foundation for this group of players.
“One thing we’ve emphasized is the little things,” Thurman said. “We always preach that and that’s always important. But that has been my focus with the guys this summer ... with how they carry themselves, how they act on and off the field, being a good teammate and being good leaders.
“I’ve talked a lot with our new seniors about the opportunity they have because now they’re looked at as seniors. That’s a lot different because they’ve always been the underclassmen. They’ve done a great job with that this summer.”
The Bobcats have spent much of their time on the field during June. With the start to the season eight months away, strength training has not been as much of a priority as honing the basics of the game.
“We’re mainly on the field. We’ve given the guys the summer off in the weight room. A lot of them have been doing their own workout routine. They’ll pick back up with lifting when school starts in the fall,” Thurman said.
“We’ve been stressing the fundamentals. We’ve been taking ground balls and doing drills and getting our reps in the batting cages. In some summers, I’ve placed emphasis on games. This summer we’ve placed more emphasis on practice and mixing in a few games just to give the guys a chance to get on the mound and get some live at-bats. The players have bought in to what we’re trying to do.”
Gilmer’s exhibitions have been informal when compared to the regular season. Exhibitions have had umpires present but scores have not been kept. Thurman noted that the central goal was to get players as much time on the field as possible.
“What we try to do with summer games is I get with the opposing head coach and we talk about what we want to get out of the scrimmage, how many guys we want to be able to throw and what inning we’re going to mix in some young kids,” Thurman said.
“We’ve had three scrimmage games so far and the scoreboard wasn’t even turned on. We played Fannin twice and Lumpkin once and were very competitive in all three games.”
Thurman noted he is happy with what the Bobcats have been able to accomplish during June considering all the schedule conflicts that arise.
“We’ll have around 25 to 30 guys on our roster and about two-thirds of them are baseball only,” he said. “The other third are multisport athletes. We freely work around their schedules because sometimes their attendance is a little sporadic. But that’s OK; I’m for multisport athletes.
“We’ve missed some football and basketball guys but we’ve been able to keep a core together. It’s been a mix of JV and varsity. We’re trying to get the guys to understand that the summertime is all about reps and getting better. I feel really good about where we’re at.”
The Bobcats left for Rome Sunday to make their way to Berry College. GHS will play at least four games and continue to get plenty of fundamental work over the course of the four-day camp.
“The Berry camp has been a big emphasis for us,” Thurman said. “We’ll get a lot of baseball in just a few days there and a lot of team building, which is a big emphasis this summer as well.”