with 15 RBIs a season ago, and the right-hander is also an ex- perienced arm on the bump. He posted a 3-3 record with a 2.65 ERA in 39 2 ⁄ 3 innings last summer. He also collected 32 strikeouts. “Coal Myers has really stepped up in our program,” Jeremy Eldred said. “He is tak- ing on a lot of that leadership role and it’s been a very posi- tive thing. That young man has grown in so many aspects of life and it’s amazing to be able to see that. He has done a great job of getting with the younger guys and working with them, trying to bring them along and up to speed as fast as pos- sible.” Myers and McGuire will be options 1A and 1B on the mound for the Tigers. McGuire, a junior southpaw, isn’t overly big, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bring it. He worked 37 2 ⁄ 3 in- nings a season ago and fin- ished with a salty 1.67 ERA and 31 strikeouts. “Tommy pitched in a lot of big games last year that weren’t al- ways successful, but he kept us in every single game,” Jeremy Eldred said of McGuire, who was 2-3 in 2023. “The kid just doesn’t quit on the mound. I’ve never seen so many different motions out of a kid and it’s fun to watch.” McGuire also hit .242 with 16 RBIs out of the lead-off spot last summer. Short completed his
dred knows it will take some of the newcomers time to get ac- climated to varsity baseball, which is why he’s willing to ac- cept some early hiccups. And it’s not like Gilbert’s schedule is easy. Far from it. Take out the difficulty of the conference slate for a moment and just look at the non-confer- ence contests. Ankeny Centennial. Van Meter. Norwalk. Pella. Knoxville. Dallas Center-Grimes. And on and on it goes. “Playing a team like Centen- nial at the beginning of the sea- son, sometimes it’s a wake-up call,” Jeremy Eldred said. “Some years we’ve gone and competed with them very well, but it’s always a constant. We can’t ever take a night off.” The same could be said for league play, which will once again be difficult, to say the least. “You can’t blink in our confer- ence,” Jeremy Eldred said. “It’s absolutely loaded.” Carlisle and Ballard both joined North Polk in the eight-
sophomore season with a .253 batting average, while Ean El- dred hit .238. “Alden and Tommy are two juniors that are going to be big pieces to this puzzle,” Jeremy Eldred said. “Ean is going to take on a bigger role too. He
had a good football season and that’s a big motivator for him to be able to step up and continue to keep that going.” From there, playing time is up for grabs with a number of un- derclassmen hungry to find their places on the field. Coach El-
SUMMER 2024 | GAME ON 7
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