They compose the heart of the Commerce High School lineup and seem to regulate the pulse of a baseball team on a mission.
Batting three, four and five are seniors Cody Streetman, Josh Swistak and Colton Davis. Each player harbors hopes they’ll swing the bat in college next year, yet none of them is willing to look much past the Tigers’ next game.
Complacency is not an option. Not when you’re in the middle of a heated Region 8-A season. Not when you’re in the middle of a nine-game winning streak. Not when you’re going up against the defending state champion Hebron Christian Academy and vying for a berth in the state playoffs.
“It’s a family here. I want to see everybody succeed and win,” Davis said. “Everyone wants to win for everybody.”
More so, Davis said, than any year he can recall.
Entering Tuesday’s night contest verses Hebron (12-1, 9-0), Commerce (12-3, 9-1) was on its ninth straight win, largely because of the offensive production driven by Davis and his classmates.
Streetman leads the trio with his .561 batting average, .690 on-base percentage and 30 runs. Swistak, at cleanup, is averaging .471 and has the edge in number of hits with 24. Davis, meanwhile, who’s batting .500, leads the team’s RBI race with 25.
Each of them has four home runs.
The team’s realization of its true potential seemed to strike them March 20 against George Walton Academy. Commerce delivered the Bulldogs (14-3, 10-1) their first region loss to take a solid claim on the No. 2 spot in the standings.
The Tigers won 3-2 in eight innings, a performance that required senior leadership on and off the field, with younger players encouraged to overcome mistakes and ultimately, provide the game-winning moments.
“Beating (George Walton) was big,” Streetman said. “There was a lot of pressure. It was a clutch game.”
The seniors, who credit four-year coach Steve Cotrell with the team’s level of success, understand their roles as encouraging the younger players not to wallow in mistakes. How they all overcome lapses is what matters most, with Davis pointing out that any criticism remains “constructive” and “for the good for the team.”
“When they mess up they feel a lot of pressure, get down on themselves. We tell them, ‘You have to let stuff like that go. It’s OK,’ ” Streetman added. “They are going to mess up, and we are too. But it’s not the end of the world. Another opportunity will come again.”
It doesn’t necessarily have to be the game-winner, the players said. A walk looms as important as a hit, explained Josh Swistak, the cleanup hitter who is committed to his role in the lineup.
“You go up there and just know you’re going to get on base. Your job is to get the runners in (when you’re cleanup), or move them over,” Swistak said. “A walked in run is just as good.”
Davis, who has already signed a scholarship to play at Western Carolina, agreed with his teammates that experience is a leading factor in the Tigers’ success so far.
Each of the seniors is dedicated to the game, with Swistak and Davis having pursued the sport year round for a number of seasons. Streetman this winter started pursuing his off-season training in baseball as well, hoping his performance will result in continued play at the college level.
An example of the teammates’ experience includes Davis’ ability to spot cues in his opponents. He can sometimes identify how an opposing pitcher’s physical motions give away the fast ball or curve ball, information he shares with his teammates at just the right time.
“I’m always looking for something,” he said.
Added Streetman: “When you figure that out you don’t have to guess. You know.”
Davis also has the responsibility of pitching to the team’s strongest opponents, including George Walton and Hebron. He will pitch at Western Carolina as well, a twist of fate he still can’t believe.
The assistant coach and recruiter from the school happened upon Davis during an off-season game in which the coach had come to the ballpark to see someone else pitch. Davis would end up with a scholarship following the visit.
Though his father Conrad never imagined his son as a pitcher, the reality of Davis’ talent won out after the teen’s sophomore year.
Dad and son spent nearly every day practicing in constructed pitching mounds and hitting in a makeshift batter’s cage outside their home.
In addition to Cotrell’s guidance of the Tigers, Davis looks to his father’s words of advice on the big pressure moments sure to face him and his team.
They all sense the importance of the season’s second half, when goals will be achieved and lost.
Sure, the winning streak is “nice,” Davis said, and important for the standings. “But it’s not everything.”
“I try not to over think it. My dad says, ‘Think like you’re in the backyard and having fun,” Davis said. “You only get to (play in the tough games and high school) once.”
