56th article at the Independent

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW: TMB baseball

CHRIS DRUMMOND cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

TRACY — Coming off a tough season and an early exit in the Section 3AA playoffs, the Tracy baseball team will look to turn the page as they have a brand new head coach in James Fultz and several key returners coming back for this upcoming season. The Panthers also change classifications for the season as they go from 3AA back to 3A. Fultz commented on what the team has been working on to get ready for the season.

“With being a ‘new head coach’ it’s been a crazy first few weeks, Fultz said. “Some of the things we have been working on is the change of language we are going to use compared to past years. Getting the guys to compare situations with old language and now seeing them with our new language has been our main focus.”

With eight seniors on the rosters, the Panthers will have an abundance of experience to lean on as they try to prepare for better results this season. The Panthers will rely on team speed and having a handful of guys that can pitch Fultz said and he is looking forward to seeing all of the guys improve as baseball players. With a lot of familiar faces and the team working extremely hard, Fultz’s expectations on the team is to be competitive in every game.

” I expect the team to be competitive in every game,” he said. “We want to win more games than last year and I’d like for us to be more competitive in playoff games.”

Fultz is coming off of four years as an assistant head coach under previous head coach Bill Tauer.