Baseball Preview: District alignments mean new challenges for county teams

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Baseball Preview: District alignments mean new challenges for county teams

Sports

Saturday, 20 February 2010 01:53

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
Osceola High was the lone county representative in the baseball regional tournaments last year, but with new district lines drawn, as many as five — or as few as, well, none — could advance this season.
Osceola
The Kowboys were 18-10 last season and lost in the regional quarterfinals to West Orange. But, Coach Nick James watched a handful of starters graduate, and OHS took up residence in 5A District 5, alongside perennial playoff programs Winter Haven and Lake Wales. Ridge Community, Liberty, Sebring and Haines City are also district opponents.
“They didn’t do us any favors,” James said. “And we’re young everywhere, we graduated quite a bit. But, as young as we are, I’d like to challenge them.”
Junior Dylan Dillard and senior Jean Maldonado return on the mound. Sophomore Peter Calilao moves from the outfield to catcher, sharing duties with junior Dustin Hindle.
Senior Ramon Cedeno and junior Herick Melendez anchor the infield at first and third but up the middle the Kowboys are young, with freshman Edwin Bonilla at shortstop and sophomores Gabby Rios and Matthew Rod-riguez at second.
“Those are the guys who won the jobs,” James said.
Sophomore Alexis Rivera is in left field. Dillard will play center when not pitching, and senior Christian Maysonnet and sophomore Travis Richardson, also the lone lefty out of the bullpen, will play right. Senior Henry Thacker will fill outfield and DH roles.
Righties Abdel Rivera, Drew Heifner and Rudy Garcia will also be in the pitching mix with Richardson.
George Jenkins, Oviedo and Winter Park dot an ambitious non-district schedule.
“We’ve got some experience on the mound, and I like our speed,” James said. “We’ll need to take advantage of that on the bases in order to win.”
Harmony
The Longhorns went 18-9 last year and were OBC champions for the first time.
Coach Mike Fields saw two players graduate, but they were good ones — ace pitcher Doug Girdner and four-year catcher Colton Richards.
This year’s anchor will be senior shortstop George Chavarria, who hit .391 last year at the top of the order, and in the field handled 85 chances flawlessly.
Seniors Matt Storm and Tyler Lesch return to jobs at second and third base. Austin Paroz and Will Tilford will play first base as a combo, since they’re also Fields’ top two pitchers. Paroz had a 1.94 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 65 innings.
“This might be the best defensive infield I have ever had since I’ve been coaching,” Fields said.
Lesch, Austin Gunther and Nathan Thommen may also climb the mound. Gunther, junior Tyler Whitney and sophomore Tim Helser are the catchers.
An all-senior outfield will return after returning center fielder Ryan Brohlman recovers from a broken leg. Alex Gonzales and Mike Hall are in left and right field, respectively. Juniors Cory Boza and Kale Dewey and Trent Fields may also work out in the grass.
The Longhorns are senior laden, but Fields doesn’t think that puts his team out of reach in the conference or district, which swapped stalwarts Bishop Moore and South Lake for Oak Ridge in 4A District 6.
“Osceola and Gateway are the frontrunners in the OBC, and St. Cloud has pitchers who can give any team trouble,” he said. “Eustis should probably be the team to beat in the district, but I believe we can put a pretty competitive team on the field. We have an excellent chance of winning district if the team stays healthy and pitchers can throw strikes.”
St. Cloud
The Bulldogs were 9-13 last year and brought in Coach Jim Moran from Poinciana to replace Shawn Lacey.
Senior righty hurler Nick Arscott will be the guy out front on a young team.
“This is a ballclub that’s young and retooling. We need the young ones to go out and just play and not worry about anything else,” Moran said. “We’ll be OK if that happens.”
Lefties Danny Carabello and J.P. Delvalle are also in the rotation. Carabello, a junior, will also play first base. The team will play very young up the middle, with sophomore Elicio Pena at second base and freshman Abel Delvalle at shortstop.
Senior Dylan Myers and sophomore C.J. Anderson have earned jobs in the outfield, which also includes J.P. Delvalle, Buddy Wager and Matt Kalafell.
Juniors Kyle LaPlant and Wager and sophomore Jeremy Kershner will sort out the catching duties.
Moran will use the regular season to sort things out in advance of the district tournament.
“The question isn’t potential, because that’s there,” he said. “What this group needs is the belief they can compete every time out.”
Gateway
The Panthers were 13-13 in Rob Hammond’s first year at the helm there, and has four returning starters to battle in a 6A District 6 with teams from Palm Bay south that he feels is more attractive from a competitive standpoint than going into Orange County.
“We’ve got a pretty good group that has chemistry and is working well together,” Hammond said. “We’ve got a lot of speed on the club and we’ll use that to put pressure on defenses.”
The Panthers’ strength is up the middle, with senior catcher Jose Cruz, three-year junior starter Juan Rivera at second, junior E.J. Devarie at shortstop and junior Julio Abreu in center field.
Senior Jose Baez is back at third base. Sophomore Leo Morales and juniors Manny Rivera and Joe Ayala will head up the pitching staff.
Liberty
The Chargers, in their third year, should be more competitive said Coach Scott Birchler, despite landing back in a district with Winter Haven and Lake Wales.
The top two bats — senior outfielders Landin Diaz (.418 hitter last year) and Patrick Hernandez (.404), are back, as well as senior starting catcher Johnny Caraballo and senior second baseman Brandon Gerena.
Only 38 innings of pitching return, in the form of juniors Johnny Maslanka and Brent Rhodes, and sophomore Joseph Nunez.
Seniors Jared Murphy and Joey Laguadia come from Poinciana to bolster the lineup. Other newcomers include sophomores Tim Tapia (third) and Ismael Reyes (shortstop) and junior infielders Jesse Svirdoff and Evan Claudio.
Birchler said the team had to improve just to keep up with the district.
“It is going to be tough. Winter Haven is the team to beat, Lake Wales will be athletic and Osceola is always strong,” he said. “We are better than we have been with a good mix of young players and seniors. The quicker they jell, the quicker we will be competitive.”
Celebration
In a district with only one clear favorite, Mike Pagano’s team could challenge for the 4A-6 runner-up spot despite having just three seniors: first baseman Ryan Kimerer, third baseman Danny Valencia and pitcher Cory Kraubetz.
The Storm’s top players are juniors Matt Kann (pitcher, outfield) and Joey Schiavo (shortstop) in their third seasons.
“They’ve been great leaders since Day One,” Pagano said.
Juniors Ezequiel Cruz (first base), Doug Dingee (outfield), Kevin Dingee (pitcher) and J.D. Marshall (pitcher), sophomores Jon Santiago (catcher) and Daniel Collins (outfield) and freshmen Noah Perez (second base), Abel Espinosa (outfield) and Dylan Mixon (pitcher) round out the lineup.
Pagano said the team is improving and hopes to be the team nobody sees coming by the postseason.
“They’re getting better everyday, we have some young talent this year that will definitely contribute” he said. “Our goal as always is to be competitive within county and district play. Harmony and Eustis are always tough in our district and I anticipate them being solid again.”
Poinciana
Coach Jason Maitland is foregoing a varsity team in favor of a strong JV squad and, “rebuilding the program the right way,” he said.
“Due to low, inexperienced turnout, we cannot field a varsity. When I came into this I figured there would be a solid foundation due to the fact the previous coach was here so long, unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”
Sixteen of last year’s 18 players are no longer at the school.
“I am confident we will have a competitive varsity squad in place next season,” Maitland said.