Extremely young Advance learning, making strides through fall baseball

It’s unclear as to whether Advance High School baseball coach Neil Johnson has a multi-year contract but given the construction of his 2023 fall and spring rosters, he deserves one.

“I’m starting about five freshmen a game,” Johnson said recently.

The Hornets are wrapping up their fall season this week with home games against Puxico (today, 4:30 p.m.), Bell City (Thursday, 4:30 p.m.), and Twin Rivers (Monday, 4:30 p.m.) and the past month-plus has been a learning experience for all involved.

“We’re very young,” Johnson said. “Fall ball, for me, is not all about wins and losses. It is about learning and getting better.”

That certainly has been the case with Advance, which has 12 freshmen and sophomores on its 16-player roster (with no seniors).

After enduring three shutouts to open the season, Advance got a great pitching performance from freshman pitcher Kadon Rodgers in a 2-1 loss to Coote, which has won nine games this fall.

“Kadon has been a big arm for us,” Johnson said. “He almost single-handedly beat Cooter.”

In that loss, Rodgers worked 6 1/3 innings and allowed just two earned runs while striking out eight Wildcat hitters and walking none.

“The boys show up every day for practice,” Johnson said, “and we have played well. We’re getting better every day.”

The Hornets (2-7) got blanked by Campbell in their most recent outing, however, prior to the loss to the Camels, Johnson’s kids nearly ran off three consecutive wins.

Advance got past Naylor 8-5 earlier this month, which was followed by a 16-6 thumping of Neelyville.

The Hornets then dropped a 9-8 game at Leopold in eight innings, and freshman pitcher Cole Curtis was a key part of that nice streak.

“He has a little bit of a weird arm slot,” Johnson said of Curtis’ throwing motion. “So, it looks a little different (to a hitter).”

Johnson has used Curtis in relief, and against Naylor, he worked 1 1/3 innings and only gave up one hit, no earned runs or walks, and struck out a couple of batters.

In the win over Neelyville, the right-hander threw three innings and only allowed one earned run, again, no walks, and struck out five.

“He’s young,” Johnson said. “He’s learning as he goes.”

Even in the loss to Leopold, Curtis was effective.

In that game, Curtis threw 3 2/3 innings and gave up only one earned run, didn’t walk a hitter, and struck out three. Of his 50 pitches, 36 were for strikes.

“What we are striving for,” Johnson said, “everybody wants to see wins, wins, wins, but our main thing is: Are we getting better?

“I tell these boys all of the time to trust the process and good things will come our way.”