Things haven’t quite gone according to plan in Banks.
Wymon Smith, Banks’ baseball coach since 2006 and athletic director since 2007, wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance. While he knew the boys were getting better every day, the situation just didn’t feel right. It was time to make a change.
So, Smith did something drastic – he fired himself.
“I’m in a unique situation,” he said. “As the [athletic director], I felt that I should fire myself as the coach because I wasn’t getting the job done.”
Doing so, Smith reasoned, would help the Braves take the next steps toward success and also allow him to handle other responsibilities that needed his attention.
“Like a lot of coaches, I’m missing out on a lot of my kids’ activities,” he said. “And I felt like when I evaluated myself as the baseball coach, the team didn’t make the strides I thought they would under my coaching.”
So Smith handed himself a pink slip and brought in Jerimy Kelley to take over the baseball program at Banks.
“Jerimy is from Rainer. His background is playing baseball,” Smith said. “He is young, energetic and eager to coach. You can’t ask for anything else.”
Kelley, a Pacific University grad who played right field for the Boxer baseball team from 2002-06, chose to stay in the area after graduating because of the phenomenal community support. A few years later, he was tapped by Smith to usher in a new era of Banks baseball.
As a player, Kelley hit a lot of doubles. As a coach, he plans to use small-ball, fundamentals and sound defensive play to turn the program around. And he plans to do it one practice at a time.
“I think that we are making strides,” Kelley said. “I’m just trying to get them to play baseball with as sound fundamentals as possible. I want them to play the right way. They are doing a pretty good job of that so far. And they’re buying into it.”
Kelley credits the team’s seniors for smoothing out the transition. With their help, he said, the rest of the players are starting to buy into the prospect of getting better every day, which means the team can continually set higher goals and achieve them easier.
“I think that we have a goal to get better every day,” Kelley said. “Try and get better every day, [and] the rest will take care of itself.”
Added Smith: “We always want them to do the best they can on any given day.”
Baby steps.
Today, the Braves don’t want to look in the rear-view mirror. They want to look forward. After going 4-34 over the last two seasons, there is plenty of room for improvement and plenty of optimism in Banks.
“I rarely talked about wins and losses,” Smith said. “As a team we have goals, but especially with baseball we play [a lot of] games so we have an opportunity to make every day better than the last.”
That is one change that Kelley won’t make. He, like Smith, also preaches improvement one day at a time.
“They’re still kids,” Kelley said. “They still need some guidance. But they do a good job of asking questions and trying to get better every day.”
So far this season, the team’s five seniors have helped Banks to three wins – one more than last year’s total – and the Braves have outscored their opponents 37-13 in those victories. The team’s only losses have been to state-ranked opponents.
Four of the five seniors on the roster are pitchers – Chris Shaw, Mike Nowak, Nick Vandecouevering and John Criswell. “As well as they throw is as far as we go,” Kelley said.
Offensively, the Braves have the talent to be quite potent, having already scored 17, 15, 11 and nine runs in separate games this season.
Shaw is batting .533 while splitting time between the mound and third base, and Vandecouevering is hitting .421 so far this year. Nowak, meanwhile, already has a home run and 14 RBIs after just seven games.
Junior outfielder Jim Criswell is also off to a hot start with a .316 batting average and eight stolen bases, while sophomore catcher Shea Rue is batting at a .357 clip early in the season.
Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, has been the play of freshman shortstop Graysen Partain, who is batting .421 in the leadoff spot and already has a team-high nine steals.
“I have a freshman that is a stud, but no one knows about him,” Kelley said.
Other possible contributors for Banks include seniors Jeremy Alvarado and Garrett Turner, plus juniors Matt McCourt, Brandon Wren, Jayson Bossert and Austin Shulund.
This time of year, though, playing games can be just as difficult as winning them. Scheduled contests against Valley Catholic and Madison have already been canceled due to rain, and Thursday’s game against Roosevelt isn’t looking promising.
“For the kids I’m sure the bad weather is a let down,” Kelley said. “But they have been doing a good job of working hard. I expect that they come in and give two hours of hard work. And they do.”
The Braves start Cowapa League play on April 6 against Seaside. Smith said he is hoping for the best from his first-year head coach and expects the team to make a playoff push.
“In our league, you just never know,” Smith said. “It’s a tough league no matter what sport we play. Astoria is head and shoulders above everyone at the moment and everyone is going to fight it out.”
“I’m hoping to get into the playoffs.”
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