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CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — Sam Mullis has had an active freshman season when it comes to playing sports.

He was a 15-year-old freshman on a talented Northside High School cross country team. Now, he’s showcasing his baseball talents for the Beaufort County Junior American Legion Post 15 team.

He and Luke Bullock were solid on the mound in a season-opening win over Ahoskie. This past Wednesday, he got the start on the mound and picked up the win for Post 15 at Ahoskie.

We talked with Mullis about the season, playing baseball and his expectations.

1. Tell me how things have been going as far as the season is concerned. You’ve got a few games in your belt, but you guys have been battling with the weather. What’s it been like for you?

“The season’s been going pretty good. We just have a young team this year, and we’re just learning this year. But we’ve been doing really good for our age since we lost a lot of people last year.

“And I’m really happy with it this year because we have a lot of pitching, and a lot of people are throwing strikes, even with how young they are. We’re doing really good hitting, too.”

2. The weather has been tricky with some games rained out, postponed or canceled. How has that impacted the team?

“It’s been a little weird with the weather because you say you think you’re going to pitch one night, and you don’t pitch. And so you have to rethink your schedule for what you’re going to do that day.

“Friday was really annoying because I was going to pitch, and I was really excited about it and really happy. And then I just couldn’t.”

3. So tell me a little bit about that preparation. You’re used to pitching and playing like this. How does that change with the weather?

“I was going to pitch (last Friday), but now I’m probably just going to take tomorrow, a little bit of a rest day and prepare for tomorrow. Probably stretch a little bit, not weightlift like I was.”

4. What specifically are things that you like about the team? You’ve played against some of the guys and you’re teammates now with them. So what’s that like for you?

“Well, this year, this team, they’ve been showing up really early to practice. Like last year, we only showed up about 25 minutes earlier to practice. This team, they’re showing up at least 45 minutes every single day.

“It’s a lot easier to practice with them. They’re all excited. They’re all ready to play. They are just ready for their opportunity.”

5. You’ve got a busy schedule with a lot of games left to play. You enjoy baseball, but it’ll soon get warmer and the days will get longer. How will you guys adjust to that?

“Well, adjusting to it, I’ve been playing baseball all my life, so I’ve just had to adjust to it since a young age. And I played sports a lot in hot gyms, hot football fields, and summer workouts and stuff. So all the sports, it’s always burning hot. So that’s really how I’ve adjusted to it.

“If we just keep throwing strikes and playing small ball and getting hits, because we’re going to manufacture some runs, and if we can just field the ball and not make any errors, then I feel like we should be good. Just make the plays and throw strikes.”