“There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time. I owe him my best.” Joe DiMaggio (April 4, 1951)

Italy’s head baseball coach Matt Coker and assistant coach Josh Ward met with parents on Thursday night. Excited about the upcoming season, the coaches just wanted to communicate and explain about their expectations of the players.

“First of all, we are excited about being out on a field after all the terrible weather. The kids are working very hard,” Coker said, “and I am excited about what we can accomplish this year. Last year, we went into playoffs for the first time in 8 years and were honored at a ceremony at the Commissioners Court. I heard the team talking about taking the state championship. That’s exciting!”

Coach Coker also explained that besides developing the team, he wanted to teach life lessons and prepare the boys with life skills as well. “I am not only teaching these kids to be great ball players but great people too.”

Coker said that he probably had enough boys to have a JV and a Varsity team this year. He picked up some kids after the JV basketball had completed their season and now he is just waiting for the varsity basketball players to be through as well. He is expecting 25 players this season.

“It’s going to be a good year. I expect a lot of good things,” Coker said.

Besides the boys playing good baseball this season, Clover Stiles and Becky Milligan are planning theme nights for the home games. “We plan to have Stafford night, hot dog eating contests and whole lot of fun,” Stiles said. Last baseball season there was even a 1950’s dance contest. “It seems like people are excited to watch the Gladiators play baseball and have fun doing it,” Coker said.

The first game is slated for Monday, February 22 at home against Santo, beginning at 6:30 pm.