Blue Devils have won 1 game so far this year

Despite their record, the Escambia County Blue Devils baseball team is growing, head coach Curtis Hixon said.

As of March 20, the Blue Devils sat at 1-10 on the season after suffering two losses against W.S. Neal last Friday.

“I’ve seen growth in the kids,” Hixon said. “Our record doesn’t show it, but we’re getting better.”

This week, ECHS played Georgiana on Monday, Monroe County on Tuesday and Thursday in area action.

Hixon said the team is getting a grasp of all the fundamentals of the game.

“We still have a long ways to go, but the fundamentals are there,” he said. “They’re learning the game a whole lot more.”

For Hixon, this is his first year as the head baseball coach at ECHS.

He comes to Atmore from Monroeville. He played high school baseball and college ball at Alabama Southern.

Hixon said he’s been stressing to the kids that the game isn’t something they can pick up quickly.

“It’s a year round sport,” he said.

Hixon said he’s been coaching for 10 years, and considers Sam Alice, head baseball coach at MCHS, a mentor.

“He would make the best come out of every body,” Hixon said of Alice. “He’ll run you. You had to be responsible for your mistakes. I hold them accountable for their mistakes. If you hold them accountable, they’ll get it right.

“He didn’t let anybody get away with it,” he said.

Hixon said he wants people to know that ECHS baseball is coming back.

“It’s going to come back where it used to be,” he said. “Now, people don’t see baseball like it used to be, but it’s coming.”