Chad Mercado
New Baseball Coach
Takes the Lead By Scott Cutlip CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Greenwood Bulldogs baseball season is currently on hold because of the coronavirus, but Chad Mercado, in his first season as coach, looks forward to getting his team back on the field, whether it be this season or next. The Bulldogs opened with a 3-2 record before the season was suspended. Mercado felt like, despite the slow start (Greenwood lost their first two games), the team had a bright future this season and hopefully still does. The team Mercado took over has had success in the past and has a talented mixture of veteran players and new blood. Despite this being his first season at Greenwood, he didn’t feel the need to change a lot when it came to training and preparation, pointing to Greenwood’s success in the past. “Coach (Trey) Holloway did a great job before,” Mercado said. “Josh (Holloway) has always been here and Sandy’s been here, and our volunteer Brad Kramer was here. So the question is what do we tweek. So, not
like crazy, overarching changes.” The biggest challenge, Mercado said, has been coming into an already existing and successful system, starting to learn what the athletes need. Another challenge, he said, is of multiple-sports players. Multiple-sports players are beneficial to the team, because those players are already performing athletically. The issue is that the team must balance training the players who participate only in baseball with those who play other sports throughout the year. Asked about some of this year’s standouts, Mercado pointed to Colton Sagely, a senior. “He’s our most talented guy,” Mercado said. “He’s just a terrific kid. A lot of the kids look up to him, and we know we can count on him every day to be a tough at-bat, and to play awesome centerfield and to run the bases hard.” According to Mercado, Sagely will be attending Oklahoma’s Connors State in the fall. “If he continues to do what he does, and has the mentality that he has, he’s got a
Greenwood’s new head baseball coach, Chad Mercado
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WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | APRIL 2020 |
Greenwood Life
