By Cleve Wiese

Published: April 29, 2008

STUARTS DRAFT – Draft coach Josh Podgorski doesn’t believe in high school batting slumps. He believes that it has been a lack of confidence that has plagued his squad lately, but the Cougars showed some confidence in their 6-5 in extra innings.
“With high school, its all about having confidence,” said Podgorski. “We have worked more on situational plays and fundamentals.”
Last week against Waynesboro, Draft had bases loaded and left players stranded. On Tuesday, Mickie Holbert pushed the runners across the plate with shot to right field that gave his team a 5-4 edge.
“I was just looking for a good a first pitch fast ball to hit,” said Holbert, who was 3-for-4 in the contest.
The team greeted the runners at the plate with pats on the back and energy.
“It’s always good to get a good vibe,” Holbert said. “We were up and then we were down.”
It was a rollercoaster ride for the Cougars during the contest. They lost their lead after R. E. Lee tied it at 5 in the seventh.
The Leemen had trouble of their own holding on to the lead.
“Even their coach said that we outplayed them, we just made mistakes early and it cost us the game,” said Leemen coach Bobby Humphries.
“I keep telling the team fundamentals, fundamentals,” Humphries said.
The Cougars did that at the bottom of the eighth as they advanced the runners again. This time it would seal the victory. Holbert hit a single to center field and Zac Marion put down a bunt to advance the runner. On a lazy fly ball, Seth Via drove in the winning run.
The work is still not done for the Cougars.
“We need to keep working on our confidence, “Podgorski said “That’s what we will continue to do, but Lee played a heck of a game and I wont take that away from them.”
One thing was for sure, Podgorski does like labels, especially when it comes to his squads difficulty at the plate.
“It’s hard to label this slump, they are high school kids,” Podgorski said. “You know they come out and work hard every day, its just working on their confidence.”