Wednesday, April 24, 2024
There’s a reason the Granbury Pirate baseball team has developed what head coach Brad Eppler calls one of the best offseason programs in the state.
It’s in order to make sure when adversity strikes in ways nobody could predict, the Pirates will be ready to overcome. And Granbury’s had more than its fair share of adversity in the offseason, the most serious of which has to do with Eppler himself.
The GHS coach is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer isn’t aggressive, Eppler said, but it is serious, and the treatment has caused his hair to fall out.
“A fat, hairless cat,” is how he jokingly described himself.
But Eppler doesn’t want the attention on himself, and he doesn’t want his seniors’ final year at GHS to have a dark cloud hanging over it.
Besides, he’s too busy being excited about the young core of the Granbury baseball team.
The Pirates went through the offseason program and came out with a focus on “mudita,” which is lifted from one of the central tenets of Buddhism.
“It’s finding the joy in others with absolutely no return,” Eppler said. “If we can celebrate the success of others aside from ourselves, we can find our own place and just be happy.
“Last year, thematically we were ‘Play for others.’ This year, mudita is the translation to the next step in that.”
In keeping with tradition, Granbury won’t have the Pirate G logo on the front of its hats. Instead, the Pirate hats will sport the color and logo of the Miracle League, which gives differently abled kids a chance to play baseball in a safe environment.
‘IMMEASURABLE’ GROWTH
Granbury was the No. 4 seed from its district and lost in the bi-district round last year to Arlington Heights. The Pirates return a few varsity starters that will mix with some up-and-coming sophomores and juniors.
Easton Turnage and Andrew Walters graduated in 2019, leaving junior Taylor Calcote to anchor the pitching rotation. Three guys are fighting to earn the second starting spot. Matthew Walters, Trevor St. Don and Tyler Sudderth all have room to grow in tournament games before district play starts, Eppler said.
Walters, a sophomore, mostly played in the outfield last year, while St. Don (junior) and Sudderth (sophomore) spent much of the season on junior varsity. That time on JV allowed them to pick up the reps they needed, Eppler said.
Four freshmen will also join the varsity for the GHS Fowl Ball baseball tournament, which begins Thursday. Eppler said their growth in the past three weeks has been “immeasurable,” and he wants them to get varsity experience, and if the pitchers in that group get shelled along the way, so be it.
“They’ll probably get beat up a little bit,” Eppler said, “and that’s okay. We want them to pitch to contact and give up as many home runs as they can. We can’t defend walks.”
Milo Behrens transferred to Granbury from Tolar in the summer, and the catcher spot is his to lose. Brock Mueller was a sophomore middle infielder on varsity last year, and Eppler said he’s taken a big leap heading into his junior campaign.
Walters is the starting centerfielder when he’s not on the mound, and Kaleb Shankles is the second mainstay in the outfield. Eppler said Shankles, a senior, had a great fall and is improving rapidly on offense as he gets bigger and stronger.
The District 5-5A landscape has shifted significantly, as two game-changing stars – Burleson Centennial pitcher Jacob Meador and Mansfield Legacy catcher Nate Rombach – are now in the college ranks with TCU and Texas Tech, respectively. Eppler said Legacy is still probably the front-runner in the district.
The Pirates have never relied on the “nobody believes in us” attitude, and they won’t start now.
“Something we’ve never been able to do is play the underdog role,” Eppler said.
The Pirates’ season begins Thursday in their home tournament against Abilene at 1:45 p.m., and they’ll play again against Sweetwater at 7:15 p.m.
Friday Granbury will take on Country Day at 10:30 a.m. and Midland Christian at 4 p.m. The Pirates wrap things up Saturday against Caprock at 10 a.m. and Boswell at 12:45 p.m.
