Dexter BB coach is focused on the future and fundamentals, not his past

The Dexter High School baseball season has come back down to Earth after opening this spring with a 16-5 rout of Poplar Bluff, as the Bearcats have endured three consecutive defeats since that productive outing.

The latest loss was a 9-4 defeat at Cape Central on Saturday. However, for first-year Bearcat coach Steve Edwards, he isn’t losing sight of the fact that his team is building a foundation based on fundamentals, just as he had his teams in Poplar Bluff do over the past seven springs.

“We are still identifying who we are,” Edwards said of his team recently. “We had a really big, emotional win (against Poplar Bluff). But the boys are playing extremely well, and this is the culture that we are building.”

Edwards was part of the Mule baseball program for a decade, including seven as head coach, before making the move to the East this spring for a “family decision.”

“I loved Poplar Bluff,” Edwards said. “It was a hometown of mine. I loved the boys over there (in the Mules’ dugout). I loved the coaches.

“This was just the right move for my family and me.”

Dexter had shown resiliency this spring, even in defeats.

In a recent 6-4 loss to Bernie, the Mules led 6-0 before Edwards’ kids battled to score four runs in their final at-bat.

“We’re going to grind,” Edwards said.

Dexter has not had a winning baseball season in over a decade, and Edwards has undertaken the challenge of trying to alter that ON the field, as well as the mentality of his players toward the sport.

“I knew Dexter had ability,” Edwards said. “But honestly, and this isn’t a cliché, but if kids want to work, they buy into a culture, they believe, they show up, they put in the time and work on fundamentals, man, these Dexter Bearcats, they’re awesome.”

Poplar Bluff has rebounded from that loss to Dexter, which was the first time in 11 years and 13 contests that the Bearcats had won a game between the two programs. The Mules have won two straight and three of its last five games. However, Edwards said he is only focused on the future, not the past.

“I just love baseball,” Edwards said. “I love Poplar Bluff. I’ll always love them. But I am a Dexter Bearcat now.”

Edwards and his team will host East Carter (3-7) today at East Park at 4:30 p.m.