The weather is warming up, which means spring is in the air, and with it the arrival of baseball season for the Greenwood Bulldogs, this year under the direction of new head coach Brandon Brewer, a former GHS player himself. A 2010 graduate, the 31-year-old Brewer was named head coach late last spring after the unexpected departure of former head coach Chad Mercado, whose brief time in Greenwood was marred by Covid-19 and the restrictions placed on high school athletics, including losing almost the entire 2020 season due to the mandatory lockdown.
Prior to his hiring, Brewer spent several years under the tutelage of legendary head coach Larry Turner of Owasso High School in Oklahoma, a perennial national power in prep baseball and winners of 14 state titles in the Sooner State. Brewer had worked his way up to become the chief assistant under Turner before applying for the Greenwood job.
“It’s the only job I would have left Owasso for,” said Brewer of the opportunity to return home to Greenwood. The new GHS head coach played for former head coach Randy Gardener, whose best GHS team went 31-2, but lost in the state tournament. Brewer was an outfielder for that team and now he’s in charge of returning the Diamond ‘Dogs to that level of past glory and bringing another state championship to South Sebastian County.
The 2023 Bulldogs have already started their season with games against Gravette, Owasso, and Shiloh Christian, posting a 1-2 record so far. For details of those games see the accompanying article on the Dog Pound website. Greenwood will play at Springdale Har-Ber on Friday before hosting the Russellville Cyclones for an early 5A West doubleheader next Tuesday. The Diamond ‘Dogs will then return to non-conference play against Red Oak (OK), Brookland (AR), Booneville (AR), and Spiro (OK) before traveling to Van Buren for another league doubleheader on March 28th.
How the Bulldogs do this season remains to be seen, of course, but Coach Brewer believes in his players and a strong pitching staff to carry the team to more victories than losses and a potential playoff berth at the end of the trail. To help him reach that goal, Brewer has six seniors and five juniors on his 21-man varsity roster, plus some talented sophomores with potential to make contributions down the road. There’s even one freshman on that list.
The 2023 senior class includes Dawson Holt, Baylor Hossley, Harrison Adams, Hunter Houston, Aiden Kennon, and Weston Pschier. The junior class includes Zander Reynolds, Braden Skaggs, Austin Bercher, Austin Mitchell, and Brady Pettigrew. The team’s nine sophomores are Grant Karnes, Zack Zitzmann, Everson Adams, Parker Branton, Lawson Cranor, Scott Holland, Mason Moore, Jaxson Cole, and Ashdin Vinci. The squad’s lone freshman is Brady Morgan.
As already mentioned, Coach Brewer is depending on a potentially strong pitching staff to keep his team in most games this season. Returning hurlers Aiden Kennon and Austin Mitchell are among those mound dwellers being counted on heavily to keep opposition bats in check. Hunter Houston, Lawson Cranor, Brady Pettigrew, Grant Karnes and others will also toe the rubber for the Diamond ‘Dogs this spring, whether as starters or relievers.
In baseball, there is no such thing as having too much pitching, and Brewer has nine pitchers listed on his roster. But only one hurler – Lawson Cranor – is listed as a pitcher only. All the rest pull double duty elsewhere on the field when not on the bump. They are all right-handed as well, except for lefty sophomore Zack Zitzmann, who profiles as a reliever and a utility player in the field. He’s young and will gain experience on the junior varsity squad, but could see some varsity time out of the bullpen if the matchup favors the Bulldogs. Cranor will also toil on the JV team while gaining experience.
“Most of the guys coming back pitched significant innings for the varsity last year,” said Brewer. “Aiden Kennon has really good stuff. Austin Mitchell was one of their best guys last year with the stuff to compete with anybody. Another arm that [stands out] is sophomore Grant Karnes. He’s got electric stuff. Hunter Houston hasn’t pitched in a couple years, but I really like his arm.” Of course, Houston is best known as the starting quarterback for the football team the past two years.
Those four [pitchers] will likely be the starters on the squad, but will also be available in the field or as relievers, if needed to lock down a victory. Along with Zitzmann, sophomore Mason Moore could also see some varsity time, and junior Brady Pettigrew can pitch as well, though Brewer prefers his starting first baseman to concentrate on hitting.
Kennon and Karnes are the team’s two power pitchers, capable of throwing in the mid-to-upper 80s, said their coach. Mitchell and Pettigrew pitch more to contact, but Houston has the potential to add more steam to his delivery. “We’re just not there yet,” said Brewer. “He’s coming back from [knee] surgery, so we’re just working him back into it.
“We’ve got some seniors who have played a lot of baseball, and we’re looking for those guys to lead us,” said the coach. “Harrison Adams is probably going to be our captain and our leader. But overall, I like our balance with the six seniors and five juniors. That sophomore group has some guys who will contribute to the varsity as we get along in the season. I like that class as well,” he added before addressing the schedule and conference play.
“Overall, there are some things we need to clean up to get where we want to be,” he said in reference to the 6-5 loss at Gravette still fresh in his mind. “But I feel like this team is capable of doing well in conference play. Our non-conference games are super tough. We’re on the road quite a bit.” Brewer then talked about some of Greenwood’s upcoming opponents.
“Red Oak is a small school in Oklahoma, but they are a baseball factory,” he revealed. “That will be a good test for us. Brookland, Arkansas, is near Jonesboro, and they are one of the better teams in Class 4A. They are playing a spring break tournament in Northwest Arkansas and were willing to swing by here and play [us].”
Being hired so late in the spring made it tough on Brewer to schedule quality non-conference opponents. “It was difficult to find games,” he admitted. “I had to do some sweet talking to some of the bigger schools, telling them that we would come to them if they would open a spot for us. It made us have a lot of games on the road, so we didn’t get in any tournaments to try and stay home as much as possible, because we’re definitely going to be road warriors.
“I’ve kept up with Arkansas baseball and Greenwood since I’ve been away, and the teams we’re going to have to compete with are Van Buren, Greenbrier, Russellville, and Mountain Home. Those are historically good baseball schools. Those are huge games for us in [league] play. But I really think we have the arms to compete in conference. Our goal is to get to the state tournament, then anything can happen. We’ve just got to go out and compete and be really good on Tuesdays to give us that chance. We need to set the tone early in those first conference games against Russellville.”
But if pitching is going to be the backbone of this team, then the catching position is absolutely critical as well. “We’ve got a two-way race, but Baylor Hossley is who we’re going with right now,” said his coach. “He’s a senior and provides leadership. He’s a hard-working kid, and primarily he’s just going to catch. There will be a lot of times we will DH for the catcher. We just want him to focus on being the best catcher possible. Another guy who will compete for varsity innings will be Everson Adams. He’s a sophomore who needs to get a little bit stronger, grow a little bit, and get a better frame.”
Defensively, besides Hossley at catcher and Pettigrew at first base, Brewer has Braden Skaggs at second base. The junior is coming back from a broken wrist suffered in the state championship football game in December. Harrison Adams will man the shortstop position and Hunter Houston and Weston Pschier will share time at third base, with Houston getting the starts early in the season when he’s not pitching. Pschier can play second, short, or third and is a valuable utility guy, said his coach. In the outfield, Austin Bercher or Dawson Holt will split time in left field with Austin Mitchell in center field and Grant Karnes in right. “We have a chance to be really good [defensively],” said the coach. “We’ve just got to execute.”
Offensively, Harrison Adams will lead off and Braden Skaggs will fill the #2 slot, hoping to set the table for the middle of the batting order. Grant Karnes will cover the third slot in the lineup with Brady Pettigrew at cleanup. Dawson Holt will slide into the #5 hole with Hunter Houston behind him. Seventh place in the order will be Zack Zitzmann or Austin Bercher. Aiden Kennon could also see time as designated hitter in the seventh spot as well, along with Weston Pschier, with one of those four plugging the #8 hole just ahead of Austin Mitchell at #9.
Asked about team speed, Coach Brewer said, “We are definitely fast. We have a lot of team speed and we’ve got to use that as one of our advantages this year. We put a big emphasis on baserunning and we’re [certainly] going to use our speed as a weapon this year.” Harrison Adams, Braden Skaggs, Austin Mitchell, and Grant Karnes are the squad’s top speed guys.
Power wise, the Bulldogs are not expected to bludgeon the opposition with homerun balls this season. According to Brewer, “There will be times, on the right day, against the right pitching, a couple of our guys could leave the park. But mainly we’re going to be gap-to-gap hitters with Brady Pettigrew, Dawson Holt, and Hunter Houston providing the power for us.”
Asked how his players, and especially his seniors, have reacted to having a new coach this season, Brewer said, “It’s been really good. These kids have embraced me, and I’ve embraced them. I’m so fortunate to be back in Greenwood and these kids know that I bleed Bulldog blue all the way through, and I’ve got a great staff that are all Greenwood guys. They know we are all about Greenwood baseball. They know we are doing the best we can, and I think they respect that, and they’ve bought in to what we’re trying to do. Three of my assistant coaches that are volunteering and helping out, we all played together. Tony Sandifer graduated in 2011, Ethan Adams graduated in 2010, and Brennan Rogers graduated with me in 2010, and that team went 31-2 my senior year.”
After completing high school, Coach Brewer attended the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, receiving his degree in 2015. “I interned and did my student teaching here in Greenwood and got to work under Coach Rick Jones in the fall of 2014, and he had some connections back in Tulsa from where he was at Broken Arrow. He knew my dream was to be a head coach in baseball and he made some phone calls up there,” explained the young head coach.
“At Owasso I started out as the JV head coach and then worked my way up to be the lead assistant there. It was a baseball town and an experience like no other for high school baseball. We were ranked in the top 10 or 15 [nationally] every single year I was there. I was there for seven years and feel like I learned so much and have a good idea of what it takes to be successful. It’s going to take some time to implement that system and get it rolling, but once we do I think it will be fun.”
As for coming to Greenwood, Brewer said, “I wasn’t looking for a job. I [already] had a really good job and there was only one job I would ever leave Owasso for, and it was Greenwood. Some of my closest friends and family knew that, so I had somebody text me [about the Greenwood job]. Me and [Athletic Director] Dr. Smith connected and set up the interview and the rest is history. It was a whirlwind for sure because it was a late hire. We had to move within about five days, but we made it work.”
Coach Brewer is married to wife Morgan, who he met in Owasso, and the couple have no children as of yet. But they do have two dogs, said the coach with a laugh. “She’s an Owasso girl and I had to sweet talk her into coming down here and leaving home for the country. We’re looking forward to being back with friends and family and trying to get this program back to the good old days how it used to be.”