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WEB EXCLUSIVE: Becoming the hunters: Wolves baseball looking for return to relevancy
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
From 2007-10, there few high school baseball teams more feared then Plano West.
The Wolves made the playoffs for the first time in 2007, won the Class 5A State Championship and Max Preps National Title in 2008 and returned to the Class 5A State Tournament in 2010.
But West hasn't been in the playoffs since its last trip to Round Rock.
"We are working on getting back to playing Plano West baseball."
Clark, a staple of the program who worked his way up from volunteer assistant, is in his first year at the helm. He is the team's third head coach in three years as Kendall Clark departed for Coppell after 2011 and Don English stayed for just the 2012 season.
That lack of continuity showed early this season as West started 2-5.
"Three years, three head coaches, three different ways of doing things," Clark said, "so we figured it was going to take a tournament or two to really get going."
The turning point came midway through the Jesuit Classic.
West, which finished non-district at 7-5, completed that event with wins over Mesquite Poteet and Burleson Centennial. That was followed up March 7 with the opening day of the Austin ISD Classic where the Wolves defeated Stephen F. Austin High (7-0) and Eagle Pass (7-4).
"That was the best day we had during our tournaments," Clark said. "We played so well and had so much momentum going for us."
West's momentum continued to build Tuesday with a 7-2 victory over McKinney Boyd in the District 10-5A opener.
"Last year we tore it up in tournament season and then sort of fell apart in district," Clark said. "So it was important to show we could do this in district."
Tuesday's win was the first step in a potential return to the playoffs, a return that is particularly important to seniors Billy McKinney and Aaron Draper. Those two were on West's 2010 state team and are part of a core 2013 group that includes three-year varsity lettermen seniors Blake Bruce and Connor Smith.
Draper (shortstop) and Smith (catcher) have been particularly important in the field.
"We always knew Connor was a good hitter, but he keeps getting better and better defensively; our pitchers can throw that curve in the dirt and know he'll stop it," Clark said. "And for Aaron, what can you say? He's been making plays that are awe-inspiring. You drop your jaw, but have to pick it right back up because he's going to do it again."
The play of Draper and Smith, along with McKinney "who just gobbles up everything in center field," has Clark feeling extremely confident about his team's defense.
"We might not be hitting at the level we were in 2008 or pitching as well as we did in 2010," he said, "but defensively, we are playing as well as I've ever seen us."
That can be seen across the dirt with junior Riley Wayland at third base, junior Kosuke Nishitani at second and senior Mason Gentry at first. Gentry has already signed to play football at SMU.
"Mason casts a pretty big shadow," Clark said. "But I think people discount his athleticism. They see his size (6-foot-7) and figure he's just a big basher so we put him at first, but he is really athletic as well."
Gentry is probably the second most highly-touted athlete on the team.
The top spot belongs to McKinney, who was in two All-American games in August, has signed to play baseball at TCU and is a candidate to be taken in the top four rounds of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft in June. McKinney has started since he was a freshman.
"As talented as Billy is, he's an even better kid," Clark said.
McKinney will be flanked by left fielder Bruce and sophomore right fielder Eungjae Kim.
Bruce is also part of a West pitching staff that is more undefined.
"We had a lot of senior pitchers graduate," Clark said. "So we've used a lot of young arms during the tournaments to see who can pitch for us at this level."
The standout was senior Nick Gripp. The team's No. 1 picked up a shutout versus Austin and won Tuesday's district opener.
"Nick is a big, tall righty with great stuff," Clark said.
Gripp is followed by sophomore Preston Betz, the team's No. 2, and a cavalcade of other arms with sophomore Brady Taylor, Nishitani (who threw an 82-pitch complete game) and Wayland also in the mix.
West returns to the diamond at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on the road against Allen.
"We have guys on this team that were here when we were really good," Clark said. "But they've also been here for our struggles the past couple seasons and this group wants to be the one that turns it around."
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