Dynamite on the Diamond

By Donald B. Lucas

Dyno is a fourteen-year-old pitching phenom. Chip is his best friend, a highly skilled defensive catcher, a solid hitter, and an exceptional leader. Chip is also the only player who can keep hothead Dyno in line. Together, they’re the star players on the under-fifteen baseball team called the Badgers.

High school baseball coach Jim Robertson sees the Badgers’ talent so agrees to be their coach, shaping these young athletes into stars. However, Dyno proves to be a problem. He might be a gifted pitcher, but his cocky and negative attitude leaves much to be desired—so much so that his teammates start turning against him.

Coach Robertson knows a player like Dyno could tear a winning team apart, so he enlists Dyno’s best bud. Chip needs to help Dyno work through his personal issues to build trust and chemistry with his team. The Badgers could go all the way to the top if they find a way to work together and support each other, because talent alone does not produce winners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480896987

Book preview

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1

O pposing hitters, one after another, consistently shook their heads when retreating to the dugout after striking out on one of his nasty pitches. Thomas Nathan Taylor, a 14-year-old phenom whose left arm had been truly blessed by the pitching gods, carried the nickname Dyno, for his explosive initials, TNT, his flame throwing fastballs and dancing curves, and his volcano-like personality. Dyno was truly a loose cannon, known to erupt when things didn’t go his way, whether it occurred on the field, at school, or anywhere else. Even though he excelled on the mound, his volatile personality made him a horrible teammate and put his potential pitching career in jeopardy.

My name is Charles Newsome, Jr., but everyone calls me Chip, and I was Dyno’s only friend. In addition to being his friend, I was his catcher on our baseball team, the Badgers. Dyno was bigger than most 14-year-old teens, standing 5’10" with 165 pounds stretched over his muscular body. His tanned skin, dark eyes and thick dark hair, which stuck out from his hat in wild strands, made him look a little scary on the mound. His blazing fastball and vicious curveball were even more frightening.

I’ve only known Dyno for two years. His family moved to Forest Ridge in August, just after our baseball season ended, and I did not know until the beginning of the next season how good he was at throwing a baseball. Dyno and I were the only two 13-year-old players selected to play on the Forest Ridge U15 baseball team last year, and we were not fortunate to be coached by Jim Robertson, our coach this season. Last season, Coach Whitmire did not work us very hard or coach us very well, and our team was just average. Dyno was our best pitcher, and he was very cocky and did not fit in very well with his teammates. We lost more games than we won, and Dyno was very critical of the other players, even when we did manage a win. For some reason, Dyno and I hit it off, and I was one of the few people who could reason with him and settle him down when he lost control on the mound.

Coach Jim Robertson is also the head baseball coach at nearby Forest Ridge High School. He’s not an old man, but he has coached at Forest Ridge for more than ten years, and he has been very successful. He’s not much bigger than Dyno, and his wiry build and runner’s body shows you right away that he was an athlete. Coach saw Dyno pitch on many occasions last season on the Under 15 team. He came to many of our games to see what kind of talent he had coming to him. Now he was charged with coaching the Badgers. Dyno never failed to impress him with his stuff—the scorching fastball, his sneaky curve, and his ability to hit spots in the strike zone. This last trait was well advanced for a 14-year-old, and not typical for left-handers in general. However, something about Dyno was troubling him, and he never could quite understand exactly what it was.

As I said, Dyno has a cockiness about him that rubbed his opponents the wrong way, often to the point of verbal confrontations. He was never on good terms with his teammates last year, tending to take most of the credit for our wins, and rarely giving his teammates any credit for these same victories. Things have been much the same this year, even though we have a better team with a better coach. The cockiness did not seem to bother Coach Robertson. Maybe he thought it was easier to take players down a notch when they were cocky and overconfident than it was to build them up when they lacked self-confidence. Dyno’s inability to be a team player was what caused Coach Robertson concern. He knew from years of experience that having a player on his team who only thought of himself could be a cancer that tore apart the best teams.

I seemed to be the only player on the Badgers who Dyno considered a friend. Coach Robertson told my dad that I was a top high school prospect in my own right. He added that he considered me to be the one team member who kept the Badgers together and really looked forward to having me on his Forest Ridge team next year. He mentioned to my dad that Dyno and I could be the first freshmen who would ever make his varsity and become starters. He thought we could be stars in high school and that both of us could become top college prospects and maybe even pro prospects. Of course, that would be many years down the road, and it would take more than physical talent to accomplish those goals. His praise felt really good, and I only wished he would share this same information with Dyno. If he did, Dyno might improve his attitude and become a better teammate.

I understood Dyno because I grew up near where he lived, and I knew his home situation. Dyno did not have an easy home life. Both his parents worked long hours at low-paying jobs, and they struggled to make enough money to support their family. To make matters even worse, Dyno had a younger sister with serious health issues. The strain of financial problems and long hours caused his dad to drink more than he should. Dyno’s dad was not a friendly drinker and sometimes took out his misery on his family with verbal abuse. They never had time to see Dyno play and probably didn’t even realize what a talent he was. I felt sorry for him, but I also hated it when he acted like a jerk on the mound or in the dugout.

When Dyno got cocky on the mound, I could usually bring him down and get him to concentrate on the next hitter. When he got frustrated and lost his cool, I knew just the right things to do and say to get him settled down. I tried to convey to our teammates that they needed to make a better effort to get to know him, but his actions made it hard for them to fully accept him, even though he was a great pitcher and basically carried the team with his explosive left arm. I felt that this year’s Badgers team had the players and the coach to advance to the Georgia State Championship game in Macon, and we could bring the championship to Forest Ridge. All we needed was better team chemistry.

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2

"B all four!" shouted Ted Davis, the veteran umpire who was behind the plate. Dyno glared in and kicked up some dirt, but thankfully he didn’t say anything as the Cougar hitter headed to first base. Davis was a good umpire, but he did have a tight strike zone today, and Dyno was convinced Mr. Davis didn’t like him, personally.

Time, I called, and I quickly moved to the mound to talk to my disgruntled pitcher, who was another walk away from going bonkers on the mound.

Settle down, Dyno. We need this next guy, and we don’t need you stewing out here and losing your cool. That last pitch was close and could have gone either way, but I don’t think he made a bad call. Quit worrying about the umpire, and get this next hitter. He’s not touched you all day so you don’t have to be too fine around the corners.

That guy hates me, and he never gives me a close call, grumbled Dyno. We should be out of this inning and the game over. I didn’t say anything because Davis was headed to the mound to break up the conference. Thankfully, Dyno turned his back and went to the resin bag that lay crumpled up behind the mound. Everything is okay, I mumbled to Mr. Davis as we walked back to home plate. He’s a little frustrated.

This was a big game, and a game we needed to win badly. We were undefeated and so were the Cougars. We were now nursing a tight 2-1 lead with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and last inning. The Cougars had their first base runner since the fourth inning when a single and two-base throwing error by left fielder, Tad Hernandez, put the runner on third base.

That was the only hit that Dyno had surrendered and should have been harmless. The Cougars tied the score when the next hitter lifted a long sacrifice fly to center. Dyno stared down Tad for the second time in the inning; once after the error and again after the run scored. Thankfully, Tad redeemed himself with a long two-out double down the left field line which scored Duncan Armstrong, our talented first baseman, with the go ahead run in the fifth inning. Everyone had been up on the edge of the dugout cheering Tad’s big hit—everyone but Dyno who was sulking in his corner of the dugout, away from everyone. This was a perfect example of his selfish attitude that turned off his teammates.

The Cougars’ weak-hitting second baseman stepped into the batter’s box with two outs and the tying run on first. He had to be feeling a little pressure since he had already struck out twice and delivered a weak dribbler back to Dyno for another easy out in his three previous at-bats. I called for the fastball and got strike one on an 80-mph heater right down the middle. Pitches two and three were duplicates and the game was over, Badgers 2 and Cougars 1.

This was a big win that put us in a first-place tie with the Jamestown Jaguars. I rushed toward the mound to congratulate Dyno, but after he gave me a quick thumbs up sign, he headed toward left field to confront Tad Hernandez as he jogged in toward the diamond. Dyno was not going out to congratulate him on his big hit but to chew him out for his error. Duncan and I arrived first and pulled him back to the diamond for the customary post-game high-fives with our opponents. I stayed close to Dyno to make sure nothing else happened. Coach Robertson had observed Dyno’s post-game actions and shook his head in disbelief.

We were now 10 and 0, but we were starting the tough part of the schedule. Every team we played going forward could beat us. Our early games were very one-sided, and Dyno had a 7 and 0 record with five shut-outs. We got three wins with our number two pitcher, Johnny Key, but our next eight games, before we started the playoffs, would require our best baseball and a team that was committed to playing together. After today, I wasn’t sure we were capable of doing that. Coach Robertson took Dyno away from the crowd for a one-on-one chat. I wondered if it would help the situation.

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C oach Robertson did not start Dyno in our next game. Our games are a week apart in the U15 traveling league until we start the play-offs, and most are played on Saturdays, so Dyno had a full week of rest and certainly could have pitched. It was pretty obvious that Dyno was not starting because of his actions against the Cougars last Saturday. Coach Robertson never mentioned his reason for not starting Dyno, but we all knew he was sending everyone a message—and we all got it, even if Dyno didn’t.

Johnny Key would be our starter against the Central City Cyclones. Johnny was a great athlete with a good arm, but he did not have Dyno’s overall ability. He was a lanky 5’9" with broad shoulders and long legs. His dark brown hair was kept short and neat. His fastball was better than average and his curve ball was effective. Coach Robertson had Johnny warming up in the bullpen thirty minutes before the game so Dyno had to know he was not starting this game. Dyno took part in pre-game infield and outfield drills and never indicated if he was upset about not starting the game. I saw him have a conversation with Tad Hernandez, and I hoped it was to apologize to him.

Coach Robertson pulled me off to the side away from the team about ten minutes before the first pitch. Johnny was throwing his final warm-up pitches in the bullpen to our second-string catcher, Hank Mendenhall. Chip, you know Johnny is not the strikeout pitcher that Dyno is so we will have to pitch him smart today. I’m counting on you to make that happen. Keep the ball down in the strike zone, especially his fastball, and move his pitches around in the zone so we keep the hitters off balance. Their third and fourth place hitters are really good, and they can hurt us with the long ball so make sure they don’t get good pitches to hit. If you need to call time occasionally to go out and talk to Johnny, do just that.

I was honored that Coach Robertson had confidence in me to control Johnny’s pitches, and all I could say was, Okay, coach, I’ll do my best. Johnny’s smart, and he will follow the game plan. We’ll be okay today. I sounded more confident than I really was, but when I talked to Johnny, I would need him to know we were behind him and had confidence in his ability. Johnny would be the ace on about half of the teams in our traveling league, so I did have confidence in him.

Johnny got off to a great start and pitched really well through the first four innings. He had four strikeouts and only one walk, but he did throw the Cyclones’ cleanup hitter, Russ Henries, a fastball right down the middle that he hit so hard it bounced off the right center field fence and bounded away from our center fielder, Stu Meadows, for a triple. A slow roller for an easy out to our second baseman, Billy Winfield, sent Henries home with the Cyclones’ only run. Thankfully, we had our bats working today and jumped on Donnie Beaver, the Cyclones starting pitcher, for three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. Johnny took a 5-1 lead into the fifth inning, and I had my first real conference of the game with him. I said, Johnny, keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve got a great game going, and the team is really behind you. How do you feel?

I’m fine, said Johnny. My arm feels good, I’ve still got good control, and I’m anxious to finish this game. I gave him a nod and trotted back to my position behind home plate. I looked into our dugout, and all the subs were up on the edge of the dugout shouting encouragement to Johnny. I even saw Dyno up with the other players, but he wasn’t leading any cheers. We had the two, three and four hitters coming up this inning and that meant we would be facing Russ Henries again. If Johnny could get through this inning, it should be smooth sailing the rest of the way.

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I nning number five got off to a shaky start, but it was hardly Johnny’s fault. Our usually sure-handed second baseman, Billy Winfield, booted a routine ground ball and followed it up with an over-throw of first base. The Cyclones’ next hitter, Phil Simpson, ambled confidently to the plate. Coach Robertson had told me before the game that Simpson and Henries were the players we had to pitch to carefully, due to their long ball capabilities. Henries had already shown us his power.

Johnny pitched well to Simpson early in the count but again got his fastball up a little high in the strike zone, and Simpson lifted a long fly ball to deep center field. Stu Meadows was able to chase it down for the first out, but the Cyclones’ number two hitter easily advanced to third on the fly out. Russ Henries came to the plate with one out and a runner on third base. Coach Robertson signaled for me to go to the mound and talk to Johnny. What’s our plan? I mumbled to Johnny through my catcher’s mitt, like I had seen the pros do when they went to the mound.

Johnny surprised me when he came back at me so quickly with, I think I’ll just have to strikeout this guy and then end the inning with that runner stranded on third. He then gave me a wink and a nod, turned his back, and grabbed the resin bag. I stood for a second, staring at his back, before sprinting back to home plate, smiling and feeling pretty good about our chances to get out of this inning without letting the Cyclones score again.

Henries never had a chance. Johnny took care of him with two called strikes and a swinging strike three on a nasty low and away curve. The fifth-place hitter, Juan Santos, then realized it was up to him to get the runner in from third. He was badly fooled on a curve in tight and lifted a soft foul ball back behind me near the backstop that I gobbled up easily, and we were out of the inning. Our team came off the field with more enthusiasm than I had seen all season. The subs came out of the dugout and mobbed Johnny, pounding him on the back and giving him high-fives—all the subs, that is, but Dyno. He had turned from the dugout steps and settled into his corner of the bench with his arms crossed.

We promptly scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to my two-out double in the left center field gap with the bases loaded. Johnny took the 7-1 lead into the sixth and coasted through the sixth and seventh innings without allowing a single base runner. It looked like we now had two great pitchers to take us into the playoffs. Unfortunately, one of them was a lousy teammate, and it seemed like he was not enjoying the game of baseball.

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5

D yno’s parents were not waiting for him after the game so Dad and I waited around with him, not wanting to leave him at the field alone. Dyno was not very talkative. I tried to get him to talk about the game, but he had very little to say. He did admit that Johnny had pitched a good game, but that was all he said about Johnny’s pitching. He also mentioned that my double broke the game