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New look: Youthful Eagles hoping to learn from early-season struggles
By DEVIN HASSON, dhasson@starlocalnews.com
Since its inaugural season in 1996, the Rowlett baseball team has been one of the most consistent winners in the area.
The Eagles have won at least a share of the district championship in six consecutive seasons and have made several lengthy playoff runs.
But this season presents a new challenge. After graduating nearly every key player from last year's team, Rowlett is relying on talented youth to grow up in a hurry.
"In the early part of the season, we need to find the starters and get comfortable playing at the varsity level," Rowlett head coach Paul Carmon said. "We only have really four players who played varsity baseball last season."
Among those with expereince is Luke Hamblin, who hit .370 last season and also posted a 3-1 record on the mound.
Nathan Kalldin, who pitches and plays second base, will be another key factor, as will outfielder Marshall McKee, catcher Zane Landry and pitcher Earl Allen.
Infielders Dalton Atnip, Tanner Sonnenberg and Bobby Casillas, outfielder Sean Moore and pitchers Caleb Kiefer and Sean Williams are some of the new players who Carmon believe will have an impact during the course of the season.
There have been some growing pains for the Eagles during the first month of the season. But the good news for them is that with the start of 11-5A play, the slate is wiped clean.
And at Rowlett, where the standards are high, they refuse to allow inexperience to be an excuse not to succeed from this point forward.
"We want to get better as the season goes on and hopefully be playing our best baseball late in the season," Carmon said. "Our goal is to improve each week, to make the playoffs and to win in the playoffs."
Follow Devin Hasson on Twitter: @DevinHasson
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