'He's the definition of a green-light guy'

ARCADIA -- When Arcadia's Isaac Stoner is on base, he's usually looking to run. And, according to Ryan Baightel -- the Redskins' first-year head coach -- the speedster almost always has permission to do so. "He's the definition of a 'green-light guy,'" Baightel said of Stoner. " There are not a lot of times where I give him a sign or tell him to go. He kind of knows." Baightel said Stoner is the only Arcadia player to earn that designation. Stoner has rewarded his coach's faith in him. Coming into this week, Stoner has swiped 29 bases, the most in the Blanchard Valley Conference. Stoner was asked about how and when he decides to go. "Give a pitcher two (pitches), see what he's like, see what he's doing," Stoner said. "Read the catcher, also." "I talked to him about certain situations," Baightel said. "If it's the bottom of the seventh, and you've got a strong arm behind the plate, obviously (don't steal). But anything outside of that, really, he's green light." It helps that Stoner is getting on base. As the Redskins' leadoff man, Stoner is batting .381 and has scored 29 runs. "His walk-to-strikeout ratio... I think he's sitting at 23-to-3," Baightel said, "which is absurd." But it fits into Arcadia's offensive philosophy. The Redskins don't have power hitters in their lineup. Even if they did, it'd be difficult to hit one out in the enormous outfield in Arcadia. So the Redskins scratch, claw, and run to put runs on the board. "From early on in the season, we talked about ... we're not a team that's gonna out-slug a lot of people," Baightel said. "So, we place a premium of getting on base and running the bases intelligently. He's been the definition of that this year for us." Stoner is coming off a basketball season where he was Arcadia's starting point guard, and did a little bit of everything in helping the Redskins to their first district final in many years. On the baseball field, he's also been a factor in a number of things. In addition to his work at the plate and on the basepaths, Stoner has played catcher and shortstop for the Redskins. He's also pitched 36 2/3 innings, with 41 strikeouts. "Anything coach really needs," Stoner said. "Catcher, pitcher, short. If he needs me anywhere else, I'll play there." The biggest thing for Stoner and his teammates is to keep playing, period. Stoner is one of nine seniors on the Arcadia roster, and the team came into this week at 10-15, 5-5 in the BVC. "We've had a lot of ups and downs," Baightel said. "We've had some good streaks, where we beat some good teams, and we've also had some streaks where we've lost to some teams we thought we should have ended up beating. So, it's just been trying to find a middle." And as one of the leaders on the team, Stoner has helped with that. "Him, along with Blayne Colman, who's another one of our seniors, another football/baseball/basketball guy...I think they're two of our vocal leaders," Baightel said. "We don't have a lot of vocal leaders on the team. We have guys who lead in other ways, but the two of them are for sure our vocal leaders, on and off the field." Arcadia will begin its postseason run Wednesday, when it hosts Cory-Rawson. "We're hosting a sectional final here," Baightel said. "We have bigger aspirations than that. I think getting into and going far into district is the hope." But Stoner said the team isn't getting ahead of itself. "Sectional finals first," he said. "We've got to take it game by game. We can't take any team for granted." After all, you can only take -- and steal -- one base at a time.