By Ewen McRae
Sunshine Baseball Club may have a new man with the coaching reigns this season, but he’s far from an unfamiliar face around the club.
Stuart Clayton has stepped up to take on the club coaching role this summer, some 35 years after first joining the club. He’s held numerous coaching positions down the grades, as well as many years on the committee.
He said the opportunity to lead the club into an exciting new era was one he was relishing.
“It’s all about having good people around you and trying to teach this young group the right way to play the game,” Clayton said.
“When I put my hand up for the job I wanted to make sure the senior guys were happy for me to take on the role, and all the feedback I’ve got was very positive.
“No one knows the club better than I do I suppose, so I know what we’ve got to do and where we’ve got to go. It’s been a fantastic couple of months to start with and now it’s about keeping that rolling for the rest of the season.”
While pitcher Tayler Rowe injured his knee in round one, Clayton said the return of Australian under-23 pitcher Jeremy Young in November would give his side a boost as they look to push for finals this season.
“I’m pretty sure that once everything clicks we can get on a bit of a roll,” he said.
“We want to be competitive in every game and to push for finals later in the year.”
In Saturday’s game against Upwey Ferntree Gully, Sunshine had an early lead but struggled to contain the visitors’ hitters as the game progressed.
They eventually lost 5-1.
Sunshine held a one-run advantage early in the game and pitched and fielded well throughout, but three runs in the fifth innings to Upwey turned the game on its head.
From there, the Eagles batters found it tough to penetrate the visitors’ defence as they closed out the game.
