Pictured: Head Baseball Coach Brandon Martindale
With the 2026 Bobcat baseball season over, we decided to interview Head Coach Brandon Martindale to gather his thoughts on the season.
Reporter: One of the goals for the Bobcats this season was to improve. In what ways do you think the team achieved this?
Coach: “Well I think we made a lot of great strides, especially defensively with our fielding percentage, which improved from 0.870 last year to over 0.900. This has come from repetition, game experience, and having confidence. Our guy’s hitting has gone up as well, so overall a lot of improvement from last year.”
Reporter: Who were some of the players that improved the most?
Coach: “I definitely think with our batting average and fielding play improvements, Aiden Dean, Donny Reaves and Cayden Haywood have contributed this season. Donny and Cayden are younger and will be back next season, which we are very excited about.”
Reporter: If you were to name an offensive and defensive star for the team, who would they be?
Coach: “Well, Austin Courtney led us in batting average and RBIs, so I would have to say him. Defensively it would be tough to say. Sam Johnson did a great job behind the plate, our outfield as a whole had a really, really good year. Drake Mathis at first base had our highest fielding percentage, so if I had to choose I think I would choose him.”
Reporter: Looking forward to the next season, what is the biggest need for the team?
Coach: “Well, we need to improve in all facets of the game. I would say hitting as a team is a big one. We are timid at the plate at times, not attacking as much as we should. Pitching hasn’t been good enough either. We’ve had opportunities to put guys away that we couldn’t. Defensively we have to continue to improve, although I think it was our strongest suit overall this season.”
Reporter: Is it fair that we are in a conference with the likes of Magnolia, Nashville, and Arkadelphia?
Coach: “Sorry to say it’s not fair, it goes by school enrollment, but they do have quite a bit more people than we do. When you look at their dugouts they are carrying thirty players while we only have fourteen. So yeah it can sometimes feel like you are at a disadvantage at some points. We did compete better with some of the smaller non-conference teams but at the end of the day we still have to find a way to be more competitive in conference games. This group knows that.
Reporter: The Bobcats have a very small roster, how do you plan on getting more guys on the field next season?
Coach: “Well we have got to continue to try to build interest in the younger group. We are going to try to extend and play through this summer, bringing some of the upcoming eighth graders to gain experience with being on the team. With this we hope to gain interest from the next players and show them what to expect. It is a hard thing to do as we don’t have a lot of kids playing baseball in our school district. I think with the more success we have, the interest in the program will grow. Right now we are trying to make this program the best it can be and more attractive for those younger kids coming up.
Reporter: Do you think the program met its’ goals for this season?
Coach: “Well, our goals are tied into our standards, to be right, compete, and execute. I think for the most part we achieved a lot of our goals, but we are not satisfied. We have to get better in all stages of our standards, especially on the execution side to see more results in games. But we are doing things the right way, we are playing games the right way, we’re practicing and working very hard, we just have to have more results when the lights come on.”
The 2026 Bobcat baseball season was a season filled with excitement, frustration, joy, and struggle. Overall however, it was a season of improvement, leaving all the more anticipation for the next go around. Go Bobcats!