Season Preview: Little Rock Central High School

February 20, 2015

By: Zac Bottoms
Arkansas Scouting Director

Head Coach: Rusty Passini
High School: Little Rock Central High
Conference: 7A/6A East
Mascot: Tigers

PBR: What are your expectations for your team this spring?

Coach Passini: We completely expect to compete for a conference title this spring and for a state championship. We have put in the work and have confidence that we will be a tough team to beat. Our kids have dedicated themselves to this program and to each other. They have made it a priority that they will leave a lasting impression on our program. They have bought into our approach and our philosophies. They understand that it will be a total team effort this year. We do not have that superstar that can carry us; and that will be a challenge. But it will be a challenge that our kids understand, appreciate, and look forward too.

PBR: Who is going to be your key contributors on the mound this spring?

Coach Passini: We have a stable of horses that will get quality innings for us this year. Nathan Abraham, Errol Scott, and Jake Pinson will be the first three out of the gate to compete for conference starts. Our bullpen should be tough as well with Tucker Mann being the one to close games. We have the capability to shorten ballgames with the amount of strikes our starters throw. And with an increase in bullpen depth we will not be forced to rely on our starters going 7 every time out. We do not have the power arm we had last year, but we feel that we are a much more complete staff. The two seniors starters we lost from last year, along with their 9 conference wins, will be missed. But we do have 6-7 guys we have confidence in to throw strikes and get outs. Defensively, we have to protect the baseball and limit each inning to only three outs. We will not strike guys out like years past. Our success will be determined by our ability to catch and throw the baseball.

PBR: For your offense to be effective who do you expect to set the table? Who do you expect to drive in runs?

Coach Passini: Our offense is predicated on our ability to get lead off runners on base. We will be missing our top two run producers from 2014; but top to bottom we are a much more efficient lineup. Seniors, Jonathon Carruth, Rashaud Townsend, and Cole Weber will have ample opportunities to drive in runs as long as the table setters like Lance Nolen, Dakotah Stafford, and Nathan Abraham stick to their individual approaches and not try to do too much. We have speed at the top and the bottom of our order, and if guys like Dylan Chilcote get on base with some consistency, we will be able to roll the lineup over and score in bunches.

PBR: Which Underclassmen do you need to step up and fill a void by last year’s seniors?

Coach Passini: We graduated some really talented players last year and they will be missed. But we do not talk about filling voids. That tends to get into kids' heads and they begin to press and attempt to be someone they are not. We have to be ourselves and understand what we do well as a club. The moment we stray from our approach, is the moment we get into trouble. We are returning 6 seniors and 5 juniors that contributed on the varsity level last season, but we are a totally different team. Our makeup, our mental and physical approach, our strengths and our weakness are different compared to last year. This will be the first time that these kids have had the same head coach in back to back years; we will be able to build off of what worked last year and what didn't.

PBR: Who is the team to beat in your conference/ your classification?

Coach Passini: I think we will be the team to beat in our conference this year. We were one extra inning lost away from winning a conference title last year. We are a much more complete club with depth on the mound with speed and thump off the bench. I would be doing our kids, and our program a disservice by not picking us to win. The team to beat in the 7A has to be the defending state champions.

PBR: What is your biggest non-conference game and why?

Coach Passini: May 1th vs LR Catholic. It is always fun to play them. I was a junior at Central when Catholic got their program back up and running. Some of my best friends and teammates from legion and AAU played for Catholic. Neither one of us made it to the playoffs during those years but it was always about bragging rights. And despite the fact that both of us have been fortunate enough to make it into the playoffs over the last 4-5 years, their kids and our kids, still grow up playing with or against one another so it is still about bragging rights. This game is what high school baseball is all about.

PBR: What tournaments is your team attending this spring?

Coach Passini: We will be travelling to Memphis on March 12th-14th to play in the Lewis-Harris Invitational set between Germantown, Bartlett, and Bolten High Schools. We will also be playing in the Central Arkansas Invitational over spring break March 23rd-26th. It is a quality event laced with talented teams, but bring your rain boots because it will most definitely rain...again

Season Preview: Little Rock Central High School

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