Fairhope High School head baseball coach Stuart Fuller is riding high on a group of young guns this year. Coach Fuller's squad is currently 22-4 overall and 3-0 in area play in Alabama's competitive 6A high school baseball. Coach Fuller has high hopes of riding this talented group all the way to Montgomery next month and hopefully to a 6A state championship. For all area and state foes it won't look any better after this year, because this talented group is primarily juniors and sophomores and will be back again next year.
On the mound they are led by junior Daryl Norris. The 6-1/200 right hander is 6-0 on the season with an impressive .084 ERA in 33 1/3 innings pitched. He has faced 133 batters with 58 strikeouts. Norris' commanding fastball sits at 88-90 mph and will bump 92 occasionally. He also has a nice curve at 77 mph with a sharp 11-5 break. He is equally as impressive at the plate carrying a .492 batting average in 96 plate appearances, 29 RBI and 8 home runs.
Norris is aided by sophomore Peyton Fuller who carries a 1.91 ERA in 25 innings of work with 24 strikeouts. Fuller has a 84-86 mph fastball that has helped him to a 2-0 record with one save to his credit. Fuller is also an impressive middle infielder with quick fluid actions.
Norris and Fuller are assisted by solid pitching from sophomore Evan East who works mostly in relief roles due to his primary position as a catcher and seniors Corey Staab, Dusty Baker and Ashton Johnson. The team ERA stands at 2.36 through 26 games with 179 strikeouts.
Defensively the Pirates are solid with outfielders who can run and infielders with range and solid gloves. Backstops are some of the best in the southeast in sophomore Evan East with a 1.87 pop time and Garrett Pitts when East is on the mound. The Pirates are a hand full now, but the future looks bright for Coach Stuart Fuller for the next few years. He has a team of prospects that baseballclearinghouse.net will be following very closely the next two years. The Pirates are equally as impressive offensively with a team batting average of .318 in 812 plate appearances with 23 home runs. Offensively they are led by Norris and junior Garrett Pitts. Pitts is a middle infielder and catcher who has already verbally committed to Mississippi State University. Pitts is batting .341 with 18 RBI from the lead-off spot and 4 homeruns in 101 plate appearances. Freshman outfielder Jordan Ebert has been a major contributor with a .433 batting average, 28 RBI and 4 home runs in 71 plate appearances.
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