Children ages 5-14 took time out of their summer this week to learn more about baseball and improve their skills at the 2017 Demon Baseball Camp at Franklinton High School.

“We’re just trying to expose our program a little bit, trying to get the kids a chance to see how we run things here,” Franklinton coach Jeff Tageant said. “In the morning, we do a lot of drills, do a lot of teaching. In the evenings, we try to let them play games and have fun, but try to get the kids to learn the game and actually have fun while doing it.”

The total skills camp began with the participants working at their positions before going to stations where they had hitting prep work. There, the coaches went over the campers’ swings. They added bunting later in the week. They also went into the batting cages where there were four hitting stations. They had a station for base running and another for catching and throwing.

The clinic featured a little more than 30 participants.

This is the second year Franklinton has held the camp since the program brought it back.
Both of Tageant’s sons, Clay and Evan, helped with the camp along with Nate Murray, who is on staff, former player Caleb McKenzie and about 15 current Franklinton players.

“We encourage those guys (current Franklinton players) to teach the game because once you teach it, you do a better job when you have to perform it,” Jeff Tageant said. “So, we have several of those guys out here.”

Tageant said the camp is a fun time for everyone involved.

“It’s fun getting to know the kids,” Tageant said. “I look back at a lot of old pictures from camp and I see those guys come through high school, so probably half of these guys that are here today (Wednesday) will try to play baseball here.”