AWT BASEBALL: Fronabarger got Crockett County to peak at right time

Coaching on the high school and the college levels are two different types of adjustments. One group is much younger and still needs to learn more about the game to improve, while the other is more experienced and learning to perfect the trade.

Crockett County's Brent Fronabarger has now coached on both levels, and he has gotten the most from his players on both levels.

This past season, Fronabarger led the Cavaliers to the final four of the Class AA state tournament to be named The Jackson Sun's 2015 Baseball Coach of the Year.

Questions: Coming in late last summer, how difficult was the beginning of the season?

Answer: The part the hurt us was the weather. We had two preseason scrimmages scheduled, and one was rained out and the other was snowed out. So the first time I saw 90 percent of my team play was the first game against Adamsville. That was the hard part. We hat to practice indoors many times, and you don't know a lot about your kids.

Q: Was there a point in the season that you knew this was a state tournament caliber team?

A: I knew that our pitching depth would be good in the postseason. We used so many kids during the year. Some of that was by design to put them in situations to see how they perform. We used our bench, and they responded well. I knew that if we could get out of district, we would be good because of the pitching depth. We wanted to play our best at the end of the season.

Q: Once you got to state, did you see this team winning twice and finishing in the top four?

A: I told our guys at the sectional game that there would be no dog pile. We celebrated, but we didn't win the World Series. We talked about staying the course. When we got to state, I told them that we are not up here to play two games and go home. We are here to play for a state title. We had to play the way that we knew how.

Q: You lost one game in the postseason on the way to reaching the state tournament. What was the different in the postseason?

A: I don't think that there was a huge difference. In district, we played good teams like Milan, South Gibson and Dyersburg. The regular season games were all good games. When you play good teams, you are going to lose some games. In the postseason, it comes down to a great at-bat or great pitching performance.

Q: With many key players back next year, what is the early outlook?

A: We got good players back and some younger ones ready to step in. The hardest thing to replace will be the senior leadership. Those kids were captains on the football team, and they are going to be hard to replace. They were good teammates and good leaders. They did everything that was asked of them. What they did, everyone else followed suit.

Michael Odom, 425-9754