Port Aransas’ returning All-District players hope to lead the team to success
PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Despite finishing just 13-17 for the 2021 season, there is reason for optimism surrounding the Port Aransas High School baseball team. Lead by manager James Garrett, the Marlins are coming off their most successful season with Garrett at the helm. The man in charge for Port Aransas is entering his 9th season after spending the 2010-2013 seasons as manager for Tahoka High School in the western part of the state.
After ending last season coming off advancing to the area round of the state tournament to Harper High School, Garrett is excited about where his program is headed and believes that a culture is starting to be established.
“We have this program making the playoffs mostly every year and seem to be getting better every year,” he said.
Garrett contributed a lot of the recent success to the creation of a middle school baseball team which caused kids to lose an interest in baseball before reaching high school.
“We are definitely gaining more and more middle school kids and that is key because in the past, we would lose a lot of kids from Little League to high school because there was no middle school team,” Garrett explained. “Now we have one and it helps immensely with getting them the skills and reps they need to come in as a freshman and be able to play the game.”
That developmental process started to have some tangible affects on the 2021 team, as the Marlins had a quintet of players, Tate Stengenga, Kyler Spaeth, Davis Spivey, Sawyer Ulrich and Mason Barwise, selected to the All-District team. A majority of those players are returning for the upcoming season with the exception of first baseman Barwise who graduated last year and Spaeth who will not be joining the Marlins for the 2022 campaign due to an “unfortunate turn of events” according to Garrett.
The experienced manager knows that Barwise will be a big loss and certainly will be missed both on and off the field.
“Mason was a rock for us,” Garrett said, “He was always the guy we could count on to push guys in the weight room and on the field. Luckily, he showed (Stengenga, Spivey and Ulrich) how to lead last year, and they are doing a fantastic job this year.”
Garrett stated that even above the tremendous presence Barwise provided off the field, the on-field product may be impacted even more.
“We will miss more than anything, the security of his glove over at first,” Garrett said. “He caught everything we threw at him and could pick the ball really well. He will definitely be missed, but what he left behind will be here for many years to come.”
Despite what seems to be a fairly significant loss in the form of Barwise, the Marlins are set up well to replace his production. Defensively, Garrett will look to one of the other All-District selections to lead his infield for this upcoming season.
“Sawyer [Ulrich] will be a guy we look to help some of our young guys on the infield,” Garrett said. “We will have to bring in some young players to play a couple of spots in the infield and Sawyer is a guy who can help make sure those guys are doing things the right way and working hard.
On the pitching side of the diamond, the Marlins will turn to the two players who started the area games last season. Both Stengenga and Spivey are coming off a season where they led the Marlin staff in virtually every category and Garrett expects them to do that again this season.
“We will be anchored on the mound by Davis and Tate,” Garrett said of arguably his two most important players. “Those two and their pitching will be the main reason that we are successful on the field this year.”
With the bats, the Marlins will again look to their trio of returning All-District selections to provide their offensive firepower. As the manager, Garrett will try his best to create a southwest Texas Murder’s Row that Stengenga, Spivey and Ulrich will all be a part of.
“All three of those guys will be hitting in the middle of our lineup and we are counting on them to drive in the majority of the runs we score,” Garrett said. “As I said before, we will have to play some inexperienced guys this year, and (Stengenga, Spivey and Ulrich) will be counted on to teach them how to play the game the right way.”
Port Aransas begins their season against the Riviera-Kaufer Seahwaks on Feb. 21.
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