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Morristown East will be hoping to see its baseball program take a turn in the right direction when the Hurricanes play host to Union County to open their season Monday afternoon at Sherwood Park.

The ‘Canes are coming off a dismal 4-29 season a year ago and Coach J. D. Newsom, his coaching staff and his 15-player roster are hoping to get off on the right foot to open the year.

Eli Seals is the only senior on the roster along with five juniors, seven sophomores and two freshmen as East will once-again be a young team. Seals led the team in hitting with a .273 mark a year ago and also in runs batted in with 17.

“We are a junior heavy team this season,” said Newsom. “Most of those juniors have played a lot of baseball in the last two years after getting thrown into action as freshmen. So, they have some experience.”

Newsom is counting on Seals to anchor a pitching staff that will include practically everyone on the team.

“Eli will have to pitch a lot of innings this year,” said Newsom who added, “Jonah Carden will also pitch a lot when we get him back in a couple of weeks. Isaac (Greene) and Carson (Winstead) are two sophomores who will be relied on and freshman Skylar Shelton has been impressive. He’s throwing the ball well right now.”

The coach said, “So far, we’ve been throwing strikes in our bullpen work and that will be important this year. Last season we gave up way too many bases on balls.

“But, when we get going, I feel like we can throw them in there 1 through 15 and they’ll be able to throw strikes and get people out.”

Seals was the primary catcher last year and will spend some time behind the plate but junior Ethan Shockley, the only player on the roster who had a pitching victory last season, will likely be the regular catcher.

When he returns from an injury, Carden will play second, Blake Creech will be at first, Lane Grizzell in center and Brice Epps in right. All of those are juniors. Seals will start at third base, Greene will get the nod at shortstop and Winstead will start in left field.

Connor Southard is the other freshman on the squad and will see time behind the plate and at third base. Soph Trevyn Beam will play in the outfield and will likely be used to run when the pitcher or catcher get on base.

Other sophs who will play is Ethan O’Dowd (second), Nathan Hardin (outfield), Bralynn Keasling (first) and Tydence Legg (infield).

When asked if his team would be good defensively, Newsom responded, “We better be. Looking at last year’s stats, we made way too many errors. That’s just the way it was.

“But, the kids have worked hard and we brought in some new coaches who have great defensive backgrounds and I think that is also helping us.”

Newsom’s coaching staff consists of Jesse Tipton, Adam Bednarzyk, Brandon Banks and Nick Jeffers. “Three of those played at East.

“We’ve been through leadership training and have worked on mental toughness where if something bad happens we put it behind us and move on to the next pitch. Somebody has to step up and stop the bleeding if that happens.

“Last year we had just lots of times where we would be playing well and then when we made an error or something it just seemed to snowball and everything went to pieces. We can’t afford to be that kind of baseball team again.”

The coach feels the key to his team turning things around this season is simple. “Our guys playing to their potential would be the key. When we put them out there we have faith in each one and we know what they’re capable of. They just have to believe in themselves to go out there and play the way they’re supposed to play.”

Newsom says a somewhat easier schedule may also help his team improve its record. “We’re looking for improvement and part of that may be our schedule. We played a really, really tough schedule last year and it won’t be as strong this year.

“For one thing we’re not playing in as many tournaments because we don’t have the depth to go and play five or six games in a week especially with three or four in weekend tournaments. We just can’t do it.

“Another thing is we’re playing at home a whole lot more. We’ve got a bunch of home games and hopefully the guys will be a lot more comfortable playing here on their field. I think we’ll definitely see improvement in the won-loss record.

“I really felt we were better than our record last year. We just didn’t know how to stop the snowball effect when it came. We had a lot of games where we played good baseball except for that one inning that just took us out of it. Hopefully this year we can stop that before it ever starts.”

Offensively, Newsom says Seals and Shockley should be the leaders and added, “I’m looking for a big year out of Blake Creech. He’s worked really hard in the fall. Eli’s been our offensive MVP two years in a row and we need him to continue that trend and step up for his senior year.”

East has hit just one home run in each of the last two seasons and Newsom is hoping for a little more power. “That would be nice but I’m hoping we’ll be a team that can string together several hits and score runs that way also.

“Being selective at the plate and having an idea of what to look for at the plate should also help us hit the ball. We’ve worked really hard on those things, also.

“We feel confident in all of our guys. They younger ones have put in a lot of work. If we can throw strikes and cut down on the costly errors, we should be better. The key is in the guys playing the kind of baseball we know they can play and if they make a mistake it can’t carry over and cause another one.”