DECATUR -- The Bulldog baseball team will play under a new head coach this season.
Jason Porter, who has served as assistant football and basketball coach thus far, will debut his new team on March 13 when Decatur takes on Johnson County Westside at home in Edmiston Park. The game starts at 4 p.m.
Porter comes to Decatur from St. Paul, where he coached the Saints to the 1A district championship game. He hopes to take the Bulldogs to the state play-offs this season.
"I have a lot of kids that want to play baseball; they are excited about it," Porter said. "I think I will take that excitement and form some baseball players out of them," he added.
When the Bulldog basketball season ended Feb. 26, all eyes turned toward baseball. Porter will take a look at his talents and begin forming his team.
"I'm going to see what I got as far as arms goes and pitchers; we will hit some too," Porter said. "We will see what we got and go from there."
Porter will be coaching a young Decatur team with few seniors. Most are either freshmen or sophomores, some playing ball for the first time. Porter admits that he will be in the building stages for the next two seasons, focusing on the fundamentals of the sport. But as he begins formulating a battle plan, many of those young players have a strong desire to learn the game.
"I got to know a lot of them by coaching basketball and even football, and the energy they bring to table. And if we can harness that and turn them into baseball players, there can be no limit to how much we can achieve with this group."
One of his experienced players will be Porter's son, Jason, who is a freshman this year. Jason Porter, Jr., has already proven himself on both the junior high football and basketball teams. Porter started his son at a very early age playing T-ball. Last year, while coaching a traveling youth baseball team, Porter started his son and, by the end of the season, Jason Porter, Jr., had become his star pitcher.
"He will definitely be one of my starting pitchers this year and, as a ninth grader, I saw this as a particularly high honor," Coach Porter said. "He is really excited about playing here and playing for his dad, and I am excited about having him as one of my key players this year."
Porter is excited to be coaching at Decatur this season, and that excitement spills over to his players. Like kids on a long car trip, Porter is constantly bombarded with the question,"When do we start, Coach, when do we start?"
With this kind of enthusiasm, Jason Porter and the Decatur Bulldogs have the potential for a winning season.
For a complete schedule of baseball, softball, and soccer games as well as track meets, visit www.decatursd.com/athletic.
Sports on 03/12/2014