Returning talent and improved youth provide hope for the Arlington Baseball Program in 2026. Although their season ended short in districts last year, the Tigers look to make a run in the postseason. 

The Tigers finished with an 18-17 record in 2025, which marked their lowest number of wins since 2018. However, Coach Jonathan Moody was high on his team’s returning talent from last year. 

The goal for Moody is to play well enough in the regular season to “give us a chance to compete late in the year and find a way to win that last game.” He wants to refine the team all season to ultimately be playing their best baseball in the postseason. 

Moody looks to lean on his more experienced players in the upcoming year. He highlighted seniors such as utility player Harrison Pollina, outfielder Seth Buchanan, catcher Shawn Tillman, and utility player Braden Register. Pollina and Buchanan are signed to play college baseball at the University of Cincinnati and Dyersburg State, respectively. Register was the champion of the home run derby at the Meet the Tigers event last Friday. 

While they do not have a set-in-stone pitching rotation yet, he wants to build around Harrison Pollina. He mentioned sophomore Talen Bartholomew and senior Harrison Gist as rotation players. 

“Harrison is going to be one of those key contributor starters for us, you know we’re trying to build some guys around that.” 

Gist is a guy who has picked up a few college offers from schools to play at the next level. Bartholomew has made a good impression over the varsity innings he picked up last year and in the offseason. 

They played in three exhibitions in February, including games against Covington, ECS, and Northpoint. Although they were rusty in the first two, they seemed to make adjustments later on. 

“I think we made some significant adjustments from our first two to our third. We continue to seek growth across the board.” 

The Tigers open their season Monday, March 2nd, on the road against ECS at 7:00 PM.