Game On baseball tryouts set for next two Saturdays
Published 12:00 am Friday, July 29, 2016
LAGRANGE – Game On Training and Copperheads Baseball are joining forces.
The two organizations will hold joint baseball tryouts the next two weekends at the Harris Baseball Complex.
The LaGrange chapter of Game On Training offers travel baseball teams for high school-aged players, while the Columbus-based Copperheads Baseball specializes in travel teams for younger players.
Donnie Branch, the director of operations of LaGrange’s Game On Training, said having the two work together is a natural fit since they focus on different age groups.
Copperheads Baseball is run by former professional baseball player and long-time youth coach Joe Georgers.
Coaches for the two organizations will be working together during the fall season.
“They specialize in young kid baseball, and his young kids will be feeding into our older-kid programs,” Branch said. “We’re trying to get our young-kid program going, and they’re really experienced with that.”
The first of the two tryouts will be this Saturday, and the next one will be the following Saturday on Aug. 6.
Tryouts for players ages 8, 9 and 10 will be from 9:30 to 11 a.m., and tryouts for players ages 11, 12 and 13 will be from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
There is no charge to try out, and Branch encourages anyone interested to come out and meet the coaches and see what the organization is all about.
“We hope that people will give us an opportunity,” he said.
Branch said the number of travel teams will depend on how many players there are following the tryouts.
“We’ll have a small number of players on our teams, and we’ll have a rotation of kids,” Branch said. “We’re trying to win, but we’re trying to develop. So we’ll have smaller numbers on the teams. Everybody’s kid may sit out an inning, but we won’t have our 11th man on the team sitting there and getting one at-bat. All of our kids will be in that batting lineup. That’s their philosophy that I like.”
Branch added that “we’ll have energetic, qualified coaches that are development oriented. We want to have elite teams, but at the same time we want to develop players.”
The season will be from September to November.
“We’ll practice a couple of times a week, and we’ll play in five tournaments in the fall,” Branch said. “So it’s not a burden.”
OF NOTE: For more information on the tryouts or Game On Training, call Branch at (706) 302-5973, or email him at branchbaseball521@gmail.com
Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports
