NATCHEZ — Going into his second year as head coach, Adam County Christian School’s Matthew Freeman has had time to learn about his baseball program.

Last season didn’t exactly go as planned, but Freeman is hopeful to use it as a lesson for all.

“It was probably a good thing for me to start off in my first year like that to teach me to handle myself, and then teach the kids that not everyone is going to make every play,” Freeman said. “We have a lot of kids who have a lot of potential, and it’s my job to get them there.”

To achieve his target, Freeman says it all starts with pitching.

“If you can’t pitch and throw strikes, then you can’t win ball games,” he said. “If every inning you walk the lead-off batter, and next thing someone hits a ball and you make an error, it’s not good. That’s kind of how our season went last year. We didn’t do anything to help ourselves.”

Freeman said although he is not sure who exactly will get the starting role on the mound, he has approximately five players who could od the job.

“I have a lot of pitchers who need to get their arms built up,” he said. “We will probably start off letting each pitcher throw two innings apiece so we aren’t hurting any arms.”

One player who will receive playing time as a pitcher is junior Alex McCready. Although he started last year as the Rebels’ third baseman, McCready is a well-rounded asset for ACCS.

“I just need to play wherever he (Freeman) puts me and just do my job,” McCready said. “It’s all familiar, so it depends on who is pitching. If I’m not pitching, I can play third (base), left field, shortstop or first (base).”

Cole Gatlin will also be on the mound, and he will represent ACCS as one of five seniors.

Despite not having a handful of players available for practice because of ongoing basketball and soccer, Gatlin is confident in the abilities of himself and his teammates going forward.

“Most of us have played together for a good while, and I think we are going to be better this year than we have the previous years,” he said. “It is hard to know what is going to happen because the whole team hasn’t been together at once, but I’m just going to try and do my part.”

No matter the team’s record at the end of the season, Freeman’s objective is to maintain a positive attitude.

“I want to have a chance to win every game,” he said. “Regardless of the final score, I want to say that we competed. I really feel like double-digit wins is a possibility this year.”