The Augusta Prep coach wanted no lollygagging from his team during a Tuesday game he knew they could win.
//
"Hit the field running, let's go," Tyler Bromley told his baseball team before its 18-8 victory against Wardlaw Academy.
Bromley's young Cavaliers hustled onto the diamond.
Augusta Prep committed six errors through three innings and was down 8-4.
"Infield, to the mound -- now," Bromley called at one point during the debacle.
A brief meeting ensued.
Before the season, the Cavaliers' first-year coach said he wanted to instill a new attitude among his players, who include seven freshmen and an eighth-grader.
Fifteen players, many with little baseball experience, are on the Cavaliers' roster.
The Cavaliers posted their second win of the season Tuesday, both against Wardlaw Academy.
Prep scored nine runs in the bottom of the third. The four-run deficit turned into a five-run lead.
But there was still an opportunity for Bromley to teach.
"I gave you three bunt signs and you missed all three," Bromley told a player when he returned to the dugout from his place as third-base coach. "Then you swung at a 3-0 pitch. You got to get your head in the game."
After the infield lecture in the third, the Cavaliers did not commit another error and allowed just two more hits.
Prep headed into the bottom of the fifth still up five runs. The outcome could have still been considered in doubt, though, with the way the game began.
Bromley went to his bench. He pulled his second and third hitters off the on-deck circle and replaced them with freshmen.
The Cavaliers scored five more runs to force a mercy-rule win.
"We're having a lot of fun," Bromley said. "But we've got a lot of work to do."
The Columbia County News-Times ©2013. All Rights Reserved.