Hope Bobcat baseball report

Bobcat baseball coach Brandon Martindale

With spring coming soon and a new baseball season on the horizon, we interviewed Bobcat baseball coach Brandon Martindale to gather insight into who he is and his expectations for the 2026 season.

Reporter: Tell me about yourself and your family.
Coach: “I am forty-one years old; I am originally from Texarkana and a graduate from Arkansas High. I have a wife and one daughter who is a freshman at Pleasant Grove right now.”

Reporter: Give me a background of your coaching and playing career.
Coach: “In high school I played football and baseball, and in coaching terms, this will be my thirteenth year overall, with all but one of these years having been a baseball and football coach and also dabbling in other sports such as basketball, soccer, and track. This will be my tenth year as a head baseball coach.”

Reporter: Where else have you coached?
Coach: “I started at Pleasant Grove, from there I went to North Webster High School in Spring Hill, Louisiana, then on to Redwater, to Ashdown, and then finally here in Hope.”

Reporter: What areas of technique need the most improvement before this season?
Coach: “We of course need to improve everything, but our top priority is our defense, fielding, catching, and throwing, as these aspects specifically cost us quite a bit last year and we want to put ourselves in a position where we don’t beat ourselves up as much. At the plate, our objective is minimizing strikeouts, putting the ball in play, and making the opposing defenses work harder to get outs. Pitching-wise, we are trying to battle harder, get ahead in counts faster, and put people down when we have the opportunity.”

Reporter: Who are a couple of players we should keep an eye out for this season?
Coach: “That’s hard to say, we have Austin Courtney returning, who was a 2nd team all-conference pitcher last year, in which we’ve seen a lot of growth as he gets older and more mature. Jayden Brown was a first team infielder and lead off guy for us last year and most likely will be again. He really set the tone with hitting baseballs hard and playing solid defense. We are looking forward to him possibly making plays from the mound this year. Sam Johnson is a first team catcher coming back from last year and he will be pitching quite a few innings this year. He was also the leading hitter last season for the team.“

Reporter: What other teams in our conference could be good this season?
Coach: “We are in a very tough conference. Nashville will always be a challenge, last year Arkadelphia won the conference and had a great run. Dequeen has solid pitching and a new head coach so they should be excited. Magnolia has had a good team for a couple of years and they’re now coming of age with juniors and seniors and will be tough to deal with as well. It is hard to pick a favorite because these teams usually swap places every year, so we will definitely have tough battles with these teams this year.”

Reporter: What are your overall expectations for this upcoming season?
Coach: “Well, the expectation is growth of the program, that is the most important thing. When I came here the program was not in a very good spot. In building a program, we established a culture of values and of standards that we follow, and we have seen a lot of growth from this. Eventually this will turn into wins, hopefully this year more than last year, but this does take time. Guys that have only played baseball one or two years have improved drastically to where now they can compete on a varsity level. The gap between us and everybody else was pretty large mainly due to experience. Our kids just hadn’t played as much as others have. So this has become a priority for us to work on and I believe we are starting to see improvement and success will follow that.”

Reporter: What quality of a coach makes one great?
Coach: “I believe players have to know you care about them. If they feel as if they are just a number to you or they feel as if they are not as important to you as the guy next to them, programs can crumble from the inside. I think building a relationship with players, having respect for players and getting respect back from players is very important and I also think that you have to be clear and concise in what you say and not leave a lot of room for grey area. For me, ‘clarity equals focus’ is a big saying of mine. I try to make it crystal clear what we are to do for that day, that week, all season. You can’t move expectations around, so consistency is really important. Some coaches that I’ve worked with are up and down, or let game results change how they do things or how they operate, whereas I try not to. No matter if we win 12-11 or lose 11-8 our expectations will be the same. This group of guys understands that results will come, and it’s going to take time. We are fighting an uphill battle, we are trying to climb the mountain one step at a time, and I think coaches sometimes lose sight of this and lose sight of the little things that make you better.”

Reporter: In your opinion, who is the greatest baseball player of all time?
Coach: “From my childhood up through high school, my favorite baseball player was Ken Griffey Jr. I think if he didn’t have injuries, he would have been the greatest of all time for sure. Right now, I think besides the scandals, I would say Barry Bonds is the best player of all time, with what he could do, and the amount of walks he drew, even with the bases loaded, and you just don’t see that. Now you have guys like [Shohei] Ohtani and Mike Trout who are also in the argument. I really think Griffey could have played in any era, he was that special of an athlete.”

With the start of a brand-new season not far away, we anticipate exciting times in the future with our Bobcat baseball team and staff. We will soon preview the upcoming season and cover the 2026 Bobcat story.