MURRAY \u2014Calloway County Head Baseball Coach Jonah Brannon is not asking for much from his team this year.<\/p>\n
In fact, all he wants is one thing, something that has never been a problem for his players, even when they have fallen short on the field. All this team, very young in its age, needs to do is give its all, for seven innings.<\/p>\n
So far, that is happening. After Saturday\u2019s 8-0 loss to Kentucky state power Bowling Green, the Lakers are 4-6, probably about right for the schedule this team is playing, which is no different in its difficulty than past years.<\/p>\n
Even when they have been defeated by wide margins, Calloway has still fought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWin or lose, we\u2019ve just got to stick together. We\u2019re young, inexperienced and we\u2019re going to make mistakes and we\u2019re going to fail, but that\u2019s what the game of baseball is all about,\u201d said Brannon, a former standout player at both Calloway and Murray State, who is in his third year as the Lakers\u2019 head coach. \u201cI tell them, \u2018Just do it for your brothers here. Yeah, this is tough to coach and tough to play, but you play the cards you\u2019re dealt.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got good leaders and we\u2019ve got to try to hold these leaders accountable. But I just want us to compete \u2026 give ourselves a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In return, those leaders \u2014namely senior outfielder\/pitcher, catcher Iziah Cruz and senior pitcher\/catcher\/infielder\/outfielder Zach Akin, along with veteran junior pitcher\/infielder Nick Cantrell \u2014 are willing to step into the fire of accountability.<\/p>\n
All three were important pieces in winning the 4th District championship in 2024, the first time Calloway had won that title since 2018. That team was full of older leaders who they followed, so they all know the drill.<\/p>\n
Cantrell is making lots of noise this year as a right-hander on the mound, going 2-1 so far with a tiny ERA of 1.17 with 35 strikeouts. Akin has not been bad either, only allowing five hits and three walks in 6.1 innings with three earned runs.<\/p>\n
Add improving junior Trent Jones (1.37 ERA in 15 1\/3 innings and the top of the Lakers\u2019 staff is able to face many top teams.<\/p>\n
Cruz, while he has delivered some big efforts on the hill over the years, is most known for his ability to reach base with his bat and legs. He is batting .412 and has walked a team-high nine times (Cantrell leads the team at .455 and has 10 hits, three for doubles).\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has five stolen bases, which is a theme with the Lakers this season as they are 22-for-26 on attempted steals. Akin is tied with Cruz, while Cantrell has four.<\/p>\n
Jones handles third or short when not pitching, which is the same for Akin and Cantrell. Experience begins to drop after those players.<\/p>\n
Junior first baseman Brenden Cavitt saw some time last year at the varsity level, while freshman Charlie Barnes is new at second base, which he shares with classmate Drake Childress.<\/p>\n
In the outfield, Cruz possesses a big arm in center, as does Akin and Jones. Eighth graders Gauge Futrell and Keige Riddle are also getting long looks for outfield duty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sophomore Taylor Morrow had an injury earlier in the season but seems ready to handle the catching duties for the Lakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MURRAY \u2014Calloway County Head Baseball Coach Jonah Brannon is not asking for much from his team this year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,5,2316,2314,2317,2313,2325,2413,4082,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,2327,2321,185,2560,2311,2312,1039],"class_list":{"0":"post-674666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-athletic-sports","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-competitions","12":"tag-baseball-finals","13":"tag-baseball-games","14":"tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","15":"tag-baseball-teams","16":"tag-champion-seasons-in-major-league-baseball","17":"tag-earned-run-average","18":"tag-major-league-baseball","19":"tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","20":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","21":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","22":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-mlb-playoffs","27":"tag-mlb-postseason","28":"tag-outdoor-sports","29":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","30":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-stolen-base","33":"tag-team-sports","34":"tag-turf-sports","35":"tag-world-series"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}