Screaming Eagles Begin 2023 Baseball Season
Toccoa Falls College’s Coach Joshua Taylor and his Screaming Eagles have hope for their 2023 baseball season after a massive victory over BCA Post Grad following a preseason doubleheader Friday, Jan. 27. The Screaming Eagles led BCA Post Grad 17-2 and 8-5.
The team has been putting in hard work since August, hoping to beat last season’s 17-38 record. Taylor, who is in his second season as TFC’s head baseball coach, is eager to prove to himself, the coaches, and the players that they can be among the best of the NCCAA Division II teams.
Coach Taylor has a lineup of 20 freshmen seeking to make their college debut.
“There’s a lot of talent there,” Coach Taylor says. “The biggest thing with [the freshmen] is maturity and growth. The first year for them is definitely a learning curve, and being able to learn as we talk at bat-by-bat or pitch-by-pitch, stuff like that, to allow them to succeed. The biggest thing for us is allowing them to succeed through us and us teaching them.”
Sophomore Jacob Cohran steps up to bat against BCA Post Grad.
Coach Taylor says that with only three seniors on the team, the Screaming Eagles are carried heavily by their returners, including Noah Davis, Charlie Compton and Josh Henshaw.
“Those three guys are guys that we expect to be leaders on and off the field,” Coach Taylor says.
The team is anticipating big games this season between Truett McConnell University, Brevard College, Georgia Gwinnett College, Carolina University and Bob Jones University. However, Coach Taylor says Carolina University is TFC’s “team to beat.”
“We lost three at [Carolina University] last year with a total of four runs of three games, so that’s one that sticks to us pretty [heavily],” Coach Taylor says. “We beat them one time here, lost by one run here, then lost to them in the Region Tournament, so that’s a team we really want to go get. I believe we can, but it’s also going to be a tight game.”
Freshman Jeremiah Campbell slides into first base.
The team currently holds a 7-6 record after losing to Truett McConnell University in the season opener Monday, Jan. 30, to Brevard College Sunday, Feb. 19, and others throughout the season. Still, Coach Taylor and his team have hope for growth.
“We want to put [ourselves] in the best chance to make a World Series run as everyone wants,” Coach Taylor says. “But the biggest thing for us is, with it being my second year, [to] just continue to see the growth in year two and the maturity because … we’re a young roster, but that doesn’t stop us.”
The Screaming Eagles will face off against the Bethel University Pilots this weekend at home. Games will commence Thursday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Friday, Feb, 24 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Coach Taylor urges students to come out and support the Screaming Eagles.
“There's going to be a lot of energy. There's going to be a lot of excitement,” Coach Taylor says. “We create a lot of action and a lot of fun. You are going to see a lot of speed and power just so it makes the whole environment fun.”