ROXANA – Nolan Tolbert is one of only four seniors on Roxana High School’s very young baseball team. He plays a huge role as a leader on his team in his final season.
“The four of us have taken a lead,” Nolan said. “We had a bunch of seniors graduate last year that helped push us forward through the program and that’s what we’re trying to do is to put these young players through and get them better for the next upcoming years.”
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The four seniors were being celebrated Saturday afternoon in two of Roxana’s final home games.
The Shells may have dropped the double header against Granite City Saturday afternoon (May 7), but Tolbert came up with arguably the highlight of the day.
In the top of the sixth inning a Warriors player hit it out to shallow left-center field. Nolan sprinted to the ball and then made an incredible diving catch for the first out of the inning.
“I was actually calling for my center fielder at the time and then I realized I was a lot closer and thought I’ll just go and do whatever I can to catch the ball,” Nolan said postgame about that play.
The Shells eventually dropped game one of the DH by a score of 8-1, but Nolan still has plenty of baseball left to play.
He’s got four more regular-season games before the Shells take on the Staunton Bulldogs in a regional quarterfinal matchup. That game is on Monday, May 16 at 4:30 p.m. at Roxana.
