The MSHS baseball team looks to continue their success after a historic season last year going 19-5-1, the most wins in the school’s history in a single season. The team starts their season Wednesday, March 12, against Pueblo East High School. Their first home game is a double header versus Delta and Resurrection Christian Saturday, March 15.
After losing seven seniors last year, the team is going to lean on their seniors this year to provide leadership.
Senior Ben Perkins, is looking to use his actions to lead by example. “It’s just showing people what hard work looks like in practice,” Perkins said.
He feels that energy has been a struggle within the program, and he wants that to change. “In previous years, once we got down and had no energy we looked at our leaders, and they were also down,” Perkins said. “We just need to get away from that kind of culture.”
Senior Hayden Martinez, also says that energy is a big part of baseball and how he as a leader can help with the issue, “It’s important for me to stay positive and not let myself get down, because then it affects the team,” Martinez said.
Another senior leader on the team, Trafford Havens, added that providing support for the freshman makes a difference. “A big part of being a leader is tapping the freshman’s shoulder when he makes a mistake, and telling him ‘it’s all right, we’ve all been there,’” Havens said. “I make mistakes every day too, so picking people up when they are down helps a lot.”
With the team losing so many seniors they will have to change their strategy. Last year, Canon Feist and Nate Gentzel brought some power to the plate that the Mustangs don’t have this year.
The team is adapting a small ball approach this season to compliment their speed. “We’re not going to have a guy that’s going to go up there and clear the bases,” Perkins said. “But what we do have is we have speed, and we have guys that will put contact on the ball and be able to run it out.”
Even though the team will have to change strategy this year, their goals remain the same. All of the senior leaders and coach Brandon DeMatto mentioned that winning the league is their main goal this year. Winning regionals and getting into the state tournament was also a common goal they all shared.
Martinez expanded on the team’s goals for this season. “We want to win the Tri Peaks League. It would be our third in the last four years so that’s one of my biggest goals this year,” Martinez said. “Then get back to regionals, since we have been to regionals every year since I’ve played and then ultimately get back to state.”
Brandon DeMatto believes that getting an opportunity to play for a state tournament is all the team needs. “We feel like once we get to the state tournament anything can happen,” he said.
In order to get to the state tournament, the team realizes there will be bumps in the road, especially with a lack of varsity experience. However, the team is focusing this year on the core value of winning habits to help them reach their goals on and off the field.
DeMatto says that winning habits can not only help in baseball but also in life. “I think we’re going to say the term ‘win’ more than we’ve ever said it before, because I want us to understand that winning is something that is earned and not given,” he said. “We correlate everything in our program to be able to win, not just the game, but win in the classroom, win in the community, win in our relationships with different people, and win on the field.”
