Baseball players prepare for new season
Having won the Tri-County Athletic League three years in a row
now, the San Benito High baseball team has about as big of a target
on its collective back as it can get.
And rightfully so.
Baseball players prepare for new season
Having won the Tri-County Athletic League three years in a row now, the San Benito High baseball team has about as big of a target on its collective back as it can get.
And rightfully so.
With a TCAL record of 42-6 during the last three years, the Haybalers haven’t made many friends.
But after graduating 11 seniors from last season’s 25-6 team – Kyle Zozaya is the lone returning all-league selection – San Benito finds itself in a somewhat different position than in years past: a team still wet behind the ears at the varsity level.
“We don’t have many innings at the varsity level. Experience is vital to winning on a consistent level,” San Benito manager Michael Luna said on Sunday night. “Saying that, I really like our talent. But our biggest question mark is experience at the varsity level and how quickly we’ll be able to respond to that.”
For a team that went 4-2-1 in the preseason, with strong victories over St. Francis of Mountain View (8-6 W), Monterey (7-3 W), Carmel (9-3 W) and Palo Alto (6-5 W), not to mention a 4-4 tie with Santa Clara at the Mike Hazlett Tournament, in which San Benito scored three times in the seventh to knot the game up at 4-all, the Balers have shown glimpses already of their old selves.
But last week’s wet weather kept San Benito off the practice field, and Luna noticed a dip in the offense at last weekend’s Hazlett tournament as a result, where the Balers went 1-1-1 to take fifth place.
Take, for instance, the team’s 2-1 loss to Monterey last Thursday. In 27 at-bats, San Benito found itself in two-strike situations 18 times.
“We’re getting two strikes too many times,” Luna said Sunday. “We’re taking pitches when I think we should be swinging.
“I still think we’ll be able to score some runs. We just need to get some practice time in.”
Dip or no dip, though, the Balers entered Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League opener against host Palma, which along with Gilroy returned the most players from last year, and still managed to control their home-away-from-home advantage.
The Chieftains haven’t recorded a home victory over Hollister since April 12, 2005, and Tuesday’s 7-5 loss to the Balers in Salinas continued that trend.
“We just have something over them at their place and we did it again today,” Luna said on Tuesday night. “I told my team they were gonna go after this game like it was Game 7, and they did.”
While Bryan Granger earned the win, Tyler Provost scored the save after throwing two innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.
“With Granger and Provost just giving up one run in the last four innings, that was probably the biggest contribution to our victory,” Luna said.
Although Luna wasn’t pleased with the way his team hit the ball against Palma, recording just five hits – Ramiro Chapa did, however, go 3-for-4 – he said there were some quality at-bats and the team took a much more aggressive approach to the plate.
“There were some signs of improvement,” he said, “but we’re still a ways away.”
And the 2009 season still has a ways to go. The TCAL will continue with its 18-game schedule like last season, leaving the teams with the most amount of arms, the strongest arms, in the driver’s seat toward the crown.
San Benito, which will host Palma Friday and Alisal Saturday, will be anchored by reliever-turned-starter Jacob Eichhorn, sophomore Darin Gillies, who threw a no-hitter against Alisal last year, and Steve Cabral in the rotation.
But Luna has as many as seven hurlers to choose from, including Granger, Kyle Vallejo, Provost and Trevor Fabing. It was nine at one point, but injuries to Bret Furtado (elbow) and Kyle Zozaya (shoulder) will keep them out of the rotation, although Zozaya will continue to both catch and play DH.
If Zozaya does DH, Spencer Brann will fill in behind the plate, showing off the depth that Luna feels will make his team’s defense its strength.
“We’ve got a lot of depth, a lot of versatility,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can play different positions and play them well.”
Luna mentioned Kyle Vallejo, who can play shortstop, second, third and outfield, as well as Trevor Fabing, San Benito’s second baseman who played at shortstop against Palo Alto.
“Defensively,” Luna said, “I think we’ll be very, very solid.”
And the Balers will need to be very solid in order to stave off the best efforts of Palma, Salinas and Gilroy – the latter two improving to 1-0 in the TCAL with mercy-rule victories against Alisal and North Salinas, respectively.
They may be a new crop of Balers, but the target on their back isn’t getting any smaller.
