Bright afternoon sunlight beamed through windows in Andalusia’s indoor facility Tuesday as the Bulldogs’ baseball team was busy working during its evaluation period before spring practice starts in January.

AHS first-year baseball coach Tyler Dent said he has used the past five days, including today, as a time to see how the players perform.

“I’ve kind of treated it as a time to figure out what the guys can do — what they’re capable of doing,” Dent said. “So, when we can get back in January, we can go right back into things and not miss a beat. That will make that process a lot easier if we can get it done right now, instead of having to do it in January.”

Additionally, Dent said this has been a good use of time to get the players used to his coaching style.

Monday and Tuesday’s work included a lot of fundamental drills, such as fielding ground balls and throwing from a ground ball, Dent said.

“We really killed fundamentals stuff,” he said, adding that there was a lot of time spent on bunting as well.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the baseball players did some intersquad work.

There are 27 players participating in the evaluation period. Two others are in basektball, Dent said.

The coach said he’s happy with the current number of players, and that about 18 will dress for the varsity team.

Dent said he’s looked at how well the player “operates” during the evaluation period.

“Because I don’t want to have to reinvent the way we do things,” he said. “I don’t want to have to recreate how to do things if they’re comfortable doing one thing. I don’t want to have to reinvent having to do it any other way.”

The Alabama High School Athletic Association, who allows the five-day evaluation period for baseball teams, slated the first day of practice for Jan. 27, 2014.