The baseball team will compete against Marcus tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Hebron baseball field. District games started on March 13; the Hawks are second in the district with a record of 5-2. Outfielder Lance Young said, despite new head coach Corey Farra’s new teaching style, the team is learning quickly and pushing forward.
“Up until districts, we weren’t a bad team, but we weren’t clicking,” Young said. “We were losing to teams we shouldn’t [have been] losing to. It felt like puzzle pieces were out of place. [But] when districts came around, we flipped a switch. I’m not surprised we’re playing well, but I’m surprised at how fast we were able to [change].”
The team was undefeated until their game against Lewisville on March 26, where they lost 2-6. New head coach Corey Farra said he’s continuing the legacy of past head coach, Steve Stone, but attempting to leave his mark on the team.
“I’ve always said, from afar, it looked like [Stone] coached hard and loved harder,” Farra said. “My job is to continue the tradition he has created while putting my own small thumbprint on it. We don’t have to reinvent the tradition of Hebron baseball; it’s [already] here.”
One new strategy Farra has implemented is the “small ball” practice. The goal is to have players cross first base 12 times, and work on the team’s ability to bunt.
“Sometimes when we get down, [our] energy [also] gets down,” second and third baseman Luke Sharp said. “But, being able to rally and [help] each other has pushed us through. When someone makes a bad play or something goes wrong, we’re able to pick each other up, recover and go make another good play.”
Marcus is currently third in the district with a record of 4-2, and is considered one of the Hawks’ rivals. Last season, the Hawks lost against them 6-0, and Marcus finished third in the district. Farra said Marcus tends to bring more chaos into the game, therefore he’s been practicing new strategies with the team.
“What I do know about Marcus is that they will run with reckless abandon,” Farra said. “[Preparation for Marcus] comes from practice; we also like the chaos on the bases. When we run our small ball script, we’re recreating the chaos. As we go against ourselves in practice, I think that’s going to [make] us more prepared against Marcus.”
The team had a lock-in the night before the first district game, where the team stayed until midnight playing games, spikeball and having upperclassmen give pep-talks to the team. Farra implemented more bonding activities for the team, which Young said has translated onto the field.
“[Farra] has a heavy focus on family, so when we break it out at the start of a game, we break it out to ‘family,’” Young said. “We’ve had a lot of team-building activities that we didn’t necessarily do last year. It has unified us and made us a better team because we’re playing for each other.”
Farra said the goal is not only to advance to playoffs, but to prepare the boys for adulthood and shape them into ambitious, respectful and family-oriented individuals.
“In a society where we have instant gratification from social media, we put ourselves out there so we can be seen – it’s a ‘me’ mentality,” Farra said. “The hope is we [can] get them to understand that it’s not all about you at Hebron, it’s about Hebron baseball and the guy you’re playing next to.”
