Berwick hopes bats will come alive

Berwick’s baseball team is looking to get that old Panthers’ swagger back in Thursday’s first-round playoff game at Jena.
Berwick High School hasn’t advanced past the first or second round of the state tournament since 2007 when they made the semifinals. Before that, Berwick was a perennial state title contender.
BHS (17-12), the 18th-seed, has struggled at the plate lately.
“We struggled early on this season at the plate but we hit pretty well in the middle of our schedule,” longtime Berwick head coach Mike Thomas said. “Now we’re struggling again. We’ve gone back to the fundamentals of hitting and we have stressed being more aggressive. We want them to be aggressive early in the count. It only takes a couple guys to get hot and the team takes off.”
Berwick was shut out in its last four regular season games, including two losses to cross-town rival Patterson.
“We obviously didn’t hit the ball well, but we compounded it with errors and walks,” he said.
The Panthers pitching and defense, however, has been solid.
“Our pitching has kept us in games all year and it’s played a big part in us winning 17 games,” he said.
The Panthers used seven to 12 different pitchers in its rotation this season.
“Our staff is pretty equal in what they do,” Thomas said. “All but two of our pitchers are underclassmen, so the future looks bright there.”
Senior Neil Theriot, however, will get the start Thursday.
“He just happened to be throwing the ball better this week and we have a lot of confidence in him,” the coach said. “And I trust our defense, too. We’ve had a couple bad games defensively, but that happens when you play 30 games.”
But the team’s mindset remains the main focus of the skipper.
“We have to put all the adversity of the last couple weeks behind us if we want to advance,” Thomas stressed. “I told them, it may sound silly but everyone is 0-0, nobody has a batting average, last week doesn’t matter. This is not football; you don’t have to squat 800 pounds or run a 4.2 40-yard dash.
“We will not see anything we haven’t seen already. You just have to get hot for five games and you’re the state champion,” Thomas said.
Jena (18-5), the District 3-3A champ and 15th-seed, comes into the ball game winning eight of its last 10.
“They’re fast; they like to run a lot. They’re not overpowering at the plate or on the mound,” Thomas said. “They’re very gritty and they are going to compete. We just have to put everything behind us and play ball.”
Game time Thursday is 5:30 p.m.
--By CORWIN MURRAY