Assistants playing critical role in continued success of Portageville baseball

PORTAGEVILLE – The Portageville High School baseball program has been a machine of success since Bulldog coach Tyler Trover took over in 2016. However, the seventh-year coach is quick to point out that not only does the program possess great players, but Trover also has a wealth of insight available standing next to him in the dugout in his coaching staff.

Trover added varsity assistant Tyler Fowler two years ago, and this spring, former Bulldog All-State pitcher CJ Kelley and student teacher, Brody Moore, joined the staff.

“All Tyler knows are (trips) the Final Four,” Trover laughed during a practice at Meatte Park on Monday.

The Class 3 No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (34-2) will make their second consecutive appearance at the MSHSAA State Finals on Wednesday, this time in the Class 3 semifinals, as opposed to last year’s trip in Class 2.

Portageville will face No. 5-ranked South Callaway (23-7) at 10 a.m. at US Ballpark in Ozark.

A year ago, the Bulldogs fell in the Class 2 state championship game, an experience that the Bulldog players believe will pay dividends on Wednesday.

“We’re pretty confident,” Bulldog senior Trey Benthal said. “We’ve been there and got our feet wet.

“We’re going to be confident going back.”

The entire Portageville program feels good about this past season and its preparation for Wednesday, in large part, due to the amount of work put in by the Bulldog assistant coaches.

As valuable as Fowler and Kelley, as well as Brody Moore, have been, and they have helped tremendously, Trover refers to third-year assistant T.J. Smith as his “right-hand man.”

“He is the associate head coach,” Trover said of Smith, who also serves as an assistant with the Portageville football program and is the varsity head coach for boy’s basketball.

“T.J. is the guy who I communicate most with,” Trover said.

At Monday’s practice, the atmosphere was relaxed and conducted at a slower pace than earlier in the season.

If you catch the Bulldogs in training in March or April, the four assistant coaches are all over the diamond leading not just groups, but offering detailed individual instruction, as well.

“When we are in the middle of trying to get to where we want to get to,” Trover explained, “Tyler and TJ do all of the outfield stuff, and I do the catchers and infield defense.”

Trover, who oversees the pitchers, also handles what he calls “in-D,” or individual defense, where he’ll pair his corner infielders and his middle infielders, as well as the “split work,” where the entire infield or the entire outfield are going through drills.

Smith will instruct the outfielders on “angles.”

“Anything from a routine base hit with nobody on, and how you are supposed to approach it,” Trover said of what “split work” means. “All the way to cutting off the ball and trying to get a guy thrown out.”

Trover said Kelley, who was brought on because “All-Staters get to come back when they want to,” Trover laughed (again), oversees a lot of the “baserunning stuff,” as well as some of the pitching duties.

“In the preseason,” Trover said, “CJ charts all of our bullpens and works with all of our pitchers.”

Moore joined the Portageville baseball program in December and “does all of the pitch chartings and gives us immediate feedback and information.”

This week, the positioning of the infielders and outfielders defensively will ride on the scouting preparation and knowledge of Smith and Fowler, while “Brody will give us that feedback of information, constantly.”

While Moore and Kelley are learning the ropes as young coaches, and Smith provides the steady hand of experience for Trover to lean on, Fowler is the guy that is the confidence booster to Trover’s hard coaching, at times.

“He’s kind of a smart-aleck,” Trover said of Fowler’s demeanor with the players. “He’s always giving them a hard time (in a joking way) about something.

“But, besides that stuff, he’s got a smart baseball mind. He serves his role in communicating with the kids and is that ‘arm around the shoulder’ guy.”