With six straight Tri-County Athletic League championships in a row, and a last-inning loss in the Central Coast Section championship game a year ago, the 2012 San Benito baseball team has a lot of history to live up to.
Despite losing two starting pitchers who earned scholarships to Division I baseball programs – including last year’s No. 7 team Arizona State – the Balers seem to be up for the task.
“There is no reason why we can’t do it again this year,” shortstop Ryan Jacob said. “We’ve got the best lineup in our league. If we get any pitching we’ll be tough to beat. We talk about it everyday – CCS, CCS, CCS. We think we can get there again.”
And with the return of the entire infield, including Jacob, Craig Slibsager, Marcus Sabatte and Jacob Tonascia, runs shouldn’t be an issue for the Balers.
“We look pretty solid,” manager Billy Aviles said. “Our strengths are going to be our offense. We are going to be strong. The biggest question is going to be how well we are going to be able to pitch. We are definitely going to be able to hit and play catch. If we can get a little bit of pitching, we are going to be tough.”
The pitching staff will be anchored by a group of inexperienced seniors, who have been on the squad but lack innings. Two weeks after tryouts ended, the team is still searching for its No. 1 starter.
“We haven’t found him just yet – somebody is going to step up,” assistant manager Andrew Barragan said. “One of those guys is gong to step up. We just need someone that is going to be able to go out there and give us four or five innings. These kids didn’t pitch much last year so they aren’t used to that. We need to get someone that gives a good outing.”
San Benito will enter the season with nine pitchers, whose roles have yet to be identified.
The Balers will look to seniors Skyler Fuss and Anthony Ocampo, and junior Robert Soto, to anchor the staff, Aviles said.
“We are never going to be able to replace (Darin) Gillies and (Bryan) Granger but we have a lot of guys that can step in and fill those shoes,” he said.
Until the team figures out its rotation, it will rely on the senior-driven offense.
“Offensively, we look pretty solid,” Jacob said. “With the bats like that, we know we have to start hitting teams early – quick and early. We have good defense but our offense is going to carry us this year. Those first few innings are going to be big for us because toward the end it’s going to come down to defense and pitching.”
On offense, the Balers return last year’s homerun leader – Sabatte with four – and doubles leader Slibsager, who had eight.
But the biggest key to the year might come with the glove. San Benito recorded four errors in its season-ending loss in the CCS championship game last year. This year the team wants to turn more focus to its defense and simply “play catch.”
“We want to play errorless ball this year,” Sabatte said. “Last year when we got to the championship, that’s the only thing that kept us from winning that ball game. We are looking to our seniors to take charge and our main objective is to play catch this year.”
He continued: “We are looking pretty good. We have our eye on the prize and whatever comes at us, we are going to overcome it.”
With six banners hanging on the outfield fence, the Balers don’t need to look far for motivation.
“These kids realize they have big shoes to fill. They can look out at the outfield and see all the consecutive championship banners out there,” Aviles said. “They have big shoes to fill. Hollister is a big baseball team, and the kids are up for the challenge. We keep reloading each year. There are so many athletes and great players that they do have big shoes to fill.”
The season starts Feb. 23 at home against Valley Christian. The game is expected to start at 3:30 p.m.
Top returnees:
Ryan Jacob
Craig Slibsager
Jacob Tonascia
Marcus Sabatte
Players to watch:
Josh George
Robert Soto
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