Bloomfield Wildcats set to begin inaugural fall baseball season

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - Bloomfield High School baseball players will have a new opportunity to fine-tune their skills on a baseball diamond this fall.

The Boomfield School recently approved adding fall baseball to its list of extracurricular activities.

"It had been approved before I was hired in the spring," Bloomfield first-year head baseball coach Tyler Trover said. "Pretty much every school south of here plays fall baseball and we kind of wanted to get our program where we could keep up with these southern schools. It's a positive opportunity to help the program get over the hump a little bit."

The Bloomfield Wildcats baseball program is coming off a 15-7 spring season. The Wildcats finished second in its district in the spring, dropping a Class 2 district title game to Chaffee.

Trover said the program returns five seniors, four starters and has a slew of underclassmen.

"It has definitely been a program that has been pretty successful the last couple of years," Trover said. "It comes with a little bit of pressure to kind of keep it where it has been. Jason Karnes has had it in a really good position the last couple of years. They've played for two of the last three district championships. With that being said, we have some talent and hopefully can win immediately. We are going to be really young and have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to be as competitive as we want to be.

"We feel like our freshmen and sophomore groups are very athletic and talented," Trover added. "But anytime you are going to battle with freshmen they are going to have a learning curve to get over."

Tim Fox, who is a member of the Charleston Fighting Squirrels baseball team that will begin play in the Senior Babe Ruth World Series in Alabama later this week, is expected to anchor the pitching rotation.

"We'll have three seniors pitching," Fox said of the Bloomfield pitching staff. "We'll need some help from our freshmen and sophomores."

Trover expects Fox will also be a big contributor offensively.

"He'll anchor our rotation and lineup," Trover said of 2013 all-state shortstop. "We'll put a lot on his shoulders to kind of carry us and lead us."

Triston Mitchell, who will play third base and bat in the middle of the Wildcats' lineup, expects speed will be a strength of the team.

"We have some pretty good hitters and should be pretty fast on the base paths," Mitchell said.

Bloomfield will open its season Aug. 28 at 4:30 p.m. when it hosts traditional powerhouse Holcomb, which placed third in Class 2 at the state final four last season.

Six of Bloomfield's first nine games are at home.

"I am looking forward to it," Bloomfield first baseman Don Gibbs said. "We'll get to play some different teams in the fall that we don't play in the spring. We should play some good competition."

Bloomfield will compete in a wood bat round robin with Bernie and Holcomb at Bernie Aug. 31 and host a round robin that features Campbell and Cobden, Ill., on Sept. 14. Bloomfield will conclude its season when it competes in an eight-team Fall Classic at Bernie Sept. 28 - Oct. 4.

"This summer we struggled hitting the ball," Trover said. "I feel like we are going to have a few guys that can get on the mound and throw a little bit and our defense should be pretty sure. I feel like we are going to struggle to score some runs at times. We just don't have that guy in the lineup that is capable of hitting a three-run homer so we are going to have to do a lot of small things in order to put runs on the board. If we can do that and execute, we can be pretty successful.

"We are going to drill fundamentals and baseball knowledge this fall and get them as prepared as possible for the spring," Trover continued. " I'm really not as concerned about the W's and L's in the fall as what I would be in the spring. It's more about seeing what you have and seeing how far you can come."

View a complete fall baseball schedule for Bloomfield below:

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2013 Bloomfield Fall Baseball Schedule

Date Opponent Location Time

8/28 Holcomb Home 4:30 p.m.

8/29 Risco Home 4:30 p.m.

8/31 Holcomb Bernie noon

8/31 Bernie Bernie 2 p.m.

9/3 Puxico Away 4:30 p.m.

9/5 Leopold Home 4:30 p.m.

9/6 Puxico Home 4:30 p.m.

9/9 Campbell Home 4:30 p.m.

9/10 Twin Rivers Home 4:30 p.m.

9/12 Senath Away 4:30 p.m.

9/14 Campbell Home TBA

9/14 Cobden, Ill. Home TBA

9/16 Risco Away 4:30 p.m.

9/19 Campbell Away 4:30 p.m.

9/20 East Carter Away 4:30 p.m.

9/24 Leopold Away 4:30 p.m.

9/25 Neelyville Away 4:30 p.m.

9/26 Bernie Home 4:30 p.m.

9/28 Fall Tour. Bernie TBA (Lasts all week)