The Statesboro baseball team recently held a welcoming party to introduce their new head baseball coach Zac Clark to the community, parents and Blue Devil team members.

Clark comes to Statesboro after 13 years of coaching at Jenkins County. Over the past eight years he served as head coach, Clark led the Eagles to six playoff appearances in his time as a head coach. He felt this was the right time to try and challenge his coaching skills at the Class 5-A level with the Blue Devils.

“Growing up in Millen I am very familiar with the Statesboro area,” Clark said. “I graduated from Georgia Southern and lived in Statesboro the past six years and I love the town. To be able to come here and coach is just so exciting. The challenge of playing in 5-A and trying to get Statesboro back to competing for region titles in one of the toughest regions in the state is a challenge I am looking forward to.”

Clark is a 2008 graduate of Jenkins County High School, where he was a standout athlete earning letters in both baseball and football all four years. He continued his baseball career earning a scholarship to at Brewton Parker. He completed his education at Georgia Southern University, earning a Bachelor's degree in History in 2012.

“I am really excited about coming here,” Clark said. “I have three seniors that I have been able to watch and I am excited about how they hit the ball and get around on the field. We have a large junior class but many of them have not had varsity experience so we are trying to get them ready the best we can.” 

Clark initially met with a few players at his welcome party and has been able to see a few others at summer work outs. Many of the Blue Devil players are doing summer ball on various teams, but Clark is hopeful to get the whole team together for a couple of games in July.

“We finally got everyone together this past Sunday for a team dinner so it was great to see them all together,” Clark said. “We had a few night practices where we had some good participation, but for the most part most of the guys are playing travel ball and we only see a few players for regular work outs. I have tried to ask the players when they are free and work things around when the majority of the guys can make it.” 

This marks the third head baseball coach in three years for the Blue Devil seniors. Clark knows that has been tough on them but he hopes that his track record of staying at Jenkins County for 13 years has the people of the Statesboro community secure that he plans on being here a while.

“I have met head on the fact that I am the third coach in three years for these guys,” Clark said. “I know it is going to be a learning curve for them getting used to another new head coach. I explained how I was at my previous school for 13 years and me and my wife plan on being here for as long as possible. This isn’t a stepping stone for me, I am here to stay as long as they will have me.”

Clark says his style is based on what skill level the team has and until he sees them in action, he admits it is tough to determine what they will look like.

“It is hard to try to play one specific style without knowing what you have,” Clark said. “I need to know if this is a team built on speed, or power. What kind of pitchers do we have, and what does the depth look like are other questions we have to answer. We are hoping to get some answers by the end of July and into August. One thing we are going to do is harping on the words family and character. The kids are going to know what it means to be a good teammate and the character you have to have to be a good member of the community and a role model to the younger kids.”