Senior wanted to dispel fluke idea

The 2019 baseball season couldn't have gone much better for Benton Harmony Grove pitcher James McCormick.

The Cardinals' ace put up all-state-caliber numbers throughout a junior year that culminated with a victory over league rival Central Arkansas Christian in the Class 3A title game.

But the 6-5, 245-pound lefty wasn't satisfied.

"Honestly, my main goal -- and it was more of a team thing -- was to just prove that last year wasn't a fluke," McCormick said. "We deserved to be there, and we deserved everything we achieved.

"For me personally, I wanted to prove to myself more than anything that I belonged, too. I wanted to go out and take advantage of every chance I got."

Those opportunities were few because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Yet, the guy Benton Harmony Grove Coach Brandon Mynhier handed the ball to in the biggest games managed to find a positive in the situation.

"I haven't allowed myself to dwell on what I missed this past year," said McCormick, who had an ERA of 0.96 and recorded 86 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings last season. "I've got to focus on what's coming up, what lies ahead. Nothing in life is guaranteed, and we all kind of just witnessed that firsthand.

"But again, that's life. You've just got to bounce back and keep working."

Benton Harmony Grove made program history a year ago by taking down CAC at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville behind McCormick, who pitched 5 1/3 innings while allowing 4 hits and striking out 8. He also added a pair of hits and an RBI that helped the Cardinals grab an early lead in the eventual 4-3 victory.

In the opening round of the 3A-5 Conference tournament, he struck out 11 in six innings during a 5-0 victory over Glen Rose. Ten days later, he gave up 1 hit and struck out 8 in a 1-0 shutout of Atkins in an elimination game to help the Cardinals clinch a state tournament berth. McCormick also had three RBI and pitched a complete game in a 9-2 rout over Manila in the semifinals.

"When we give him the ball, we know that we've got our best chance to win," Mynhier said. "He's going to give all he can. He does everything he can to make the team better."

Of the 14 Cardinals who saw action in the state championship game, 10 returned this season.

"We had a lot of guys back, and we felt really good about things," Mynhier said. "Of course, there's a whole lot of things that have to go right during the season, but we really felt like we had a very good baseball team. We had all the pieces that we felt like we needed."

McCormick also said believed his team could use the highs they experienced a year earlier to springboard to another championship.

"We were just looking to capitalize," he said. "Mostly everyone on the team was returning, and a lot of us had already won [state] once. Now we wanted to go back, show that we had what it took to repeat while enjoying the moment a little more."

Things were trending in the right direction for the Cardinals, who opened with victories in two of their first three games. After the coronavirus forced a postponement of play, Mynhier said the team remained optimistic.

"It was really hard, though," he said. "The hardest part about it for a long time was the uncertainty. We would hang on to the fact that there might still be a chance for us to go defend the title. I would tell the guys to keep working out, keep throwing bullpens, keep trying to get cuts when you can.

"That way, we'd be ready to hit the ground running as soon as [the suspension of games was] lifted."

McCormick said limbo was not a good place to reside.

"Things weren't canceled right away, so we just didn't know," he said. "Our initial thoughts were, 'How do we prepare ourselves going forward? What do we do next?' That was the big thing.

"We were still hopeful that it would blow over in a couple of weeks, and we'd be back on the field together. We couldn't work out as a group because of the restrictions by the [Arkansas Activities Association], but we still prepared individually as if baseball was coming back."

Weeks later, the Cardinals got their answer. The decision wasn't an easy one to accept.

"It was heartbreaking, especially for the seniors," McCormick said. "It was our last chance together. We were reigning champs, and it felt like for the first time in forever, we finally had everything. We were 100% confident going into the season and still were after the few games we played.

"To just have it ripped away hurt."

McCormick eventually shifted his focus toward the future. He's used the downtime to work out ahead of his freshman season with the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain, where he'll be a part of a history. The Bucks will field a baseball team for the first time ever.

"I'm more than ready to get down there," McCormick said of the junior college, which is located in Mena. "Not only is it a first-year program, but they're doing it the right way. We're not just going in a situation where they're just throwing a team out there just to say they've got a team. Rich Mountain is prepared to win something. They want to make themselves known, and I'm excited to be a part of a program that I believe is going to be really successful."

Sports on 05/29/2020