Baseball begins summer season with young squad
After losing several strong seniors last year, the Red Raider baseball team has been working to make good use of a young team this season.
“The new players have lots of potential, but they need lots of practice,” junior Mike Gouvion said.
In an attempt to integrate the young players with older ones, the coaches have been emphasizing group activities in practice.
“Our chemistry has really been improving,” Gouvion said. “Last year we had star players, this year we need to [continue to] work as a team.”
Helping to lead the relatively inexperienced team are seniors Ryan Lazenby, Sam Smith, and Peter Segatti.
Head coach Jerry Toubl and assistant coaches Matt Dahlstrom and Tom Swittel have also been providing quality training, according to many of the players.
“I think we have a pretty good coaching staff. They’ve got lots of experience,” junior David Wurster said.
Even with skilled coaches and strong leadership, pure inexperience is extremely difficult to overcome in any situation.
“We need to work on improving,” Swittel said and Toubl agreed. “We don’t have clear cut leadership yet and we need people to take charge not by talking but by demonstration.”
After losing their first two games by close margins, the players agree that batting and outfielding are areas for major improvement.
“We have individuals who are solid, but it doesn’t blend well in games,” Wurster said.
Already the team has faced many challenges this season. “We’ve got decent pitching and fielding,” Wurster said, “but our batting is weak and it’s a really young team.”
Despite the challenges facing the team, Lazenby is still setting his goals high for the squad.
“My ultimate goal is to go to state,” Lazenby said, hoping to channel the energy of the younger players into successful games. “I like all of the new kids; they really pay attention to what we have to say.”
As the summer progresses, the boys’ baseball team will continue to work toward strong teamwork and consistent batting on the field.
Although this year’s team may not be as strong as last year’s, most of the upperclassmen are content to pass on the torch to the younger players through strong participation.
“We’ve just got to play solid baseball day in and day out,” Gouvion said.
Lazenby agreed that the best thing the team can do is to keep coming and playing hard in every game just for love of the sport.
“The best part of baseball is going out there, being on the field with the smells and a glove on your hand,” he said.