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Published: Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 / Updated: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 03:30 PM

Cougars eager to face live pitching; Team opens at Rock Hill March 5

YORK -- 

The York Comprehensive High School baseball team is hoping the weather will cooperate as regular-season play cranks up next week.

The Cougars were expected to play in the annual Chester Preseason Tournament this week, highlighted by Tuesday’s double-header action at home against Gaffney and longtime rival York.

The YCHS team will open the regular season, weather permitting, Tuesday at Rock Hill. Game time is 6:30 p.m. .

Next will be a road game at Chester Thursday, March 7 followed by the first home game of the new season Friday, March 8 against the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets. The first pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

YCHS head baseball coach Scot Kiggans, a hurler of distinction in his high school playing days in West Virginia, likes what he has seen in an abbreviated preseason due to constant rainfall.

“I am very pleased with the effort during preseason practices and scrimmages,” Kiggans said prior to a team practice last week.

Kiggans said the Cougar players have made progress during the scrimmage games that have been played this season.

“The players have good attitudes and are ready to go each day,” he said.

Kiggans expects another knock-down, drag-out in Region 3-AAAA this season.

“We play in a very strong region,” he said. “It’s competitive every year. The teams we play have good players and so do we. We’ve had success in the region in previous years and look for more of the same each season.”

Senior mainstays Tyler Szabo and Cody Ledford are confident the Cougars can make some noise in the region this year. Szabo, a reliable hurler who can play shortstop and the outfield, is a senior who leads by example.

Szabo said the key for the team as whole is to play with confidence.

“Our younger players are learning the fundamentals of the game and gaining confidence,” he said.

Ledford, a centerfielder, said there are positive signs as the regular season approaches.

“We’ve had a good preseason and a good offseason before that,” Ledford said of the team’s mindset.

“I feel good about the team at this stage of the season.”