Rust head baseball coach John Bates enters his 4th year at the helm of the Bearcats looking to bounce back from the 2024 campaign. The team came into the fall with new players, including transfers and freshmen. After the fall ball concluded, Bates took time to reflect on how the Bearcats performed in these practices.
Here are the biggest fall recap points from Coach Bates:
The fall season looked bright with the arrival of new pitching Coach Eric Tolar who comes in from Southern Arkansas University. Despite losing some key pieces from the 2024 season, I added lots of depth to the 2025 roster. I maintained lots of veteran presence on the roster such as seniors 3B Jalik Demar first team all-conference, OF JaShaun Franks, and OF Shemaar Stapleton. D. K. Warren and Kyrent Cole look to lead the team up the middle of the infield. Cole made the all-tournament team at the 2024 GCAC tournament and led the Bearcats in RBIs.
During the fall season we build our team chemistry and team bonding with freshmen newcomers Will King, Devin Norwood, Jamarkis Richardson and transfers Christopher Brock and Uriel Fagoth-Troncoso who look to bring valuable experience to the team. Overall, the hitting improved during the course of the fall, and we were better conditioned. I feel very optimistic about the season and all keys are in place for another season.
On the pitching side, the staff is young but during the fall season, there was tremendous improvement. Returners include Mykelti Jordan, Kyron Baker, and Arvis Latting who has the most experience on the staff. We’ve added freshmen Fred Dean and Qunicy Winston who showed some promise in the fall season. My concern is, with the long winter break, to see if players can maintain their conditioning upon the return to school. We conducted weekly Zoom check-ins and got feedback on their progress as the season approaches.
The season will kick off with the HBCU Battle of Division Invitational which this year is more of an NAIA vs NCAA Division II, eight-team tournament as we face Miles College in New Orleans. We have mid-week games scheduled against NAIA powers Freed-Harderman and Blue Mountain Christian University home and home games, as well as with Division 1 programs Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University.