I would normally not title an "end of the year" summary; but this was a special year, with a special group of kids! It has been said many times, that the fun is not in reaching the goal, the real fun is the journey and the 2009 Eagle season, was truly a journey to remember!
Most people don't realize what goes on to put a college team together. It all begins in June, and is pretty much non-stop until the following May. It is just short of twelve months of hard work, with a few laughs mixed in, to get a team ready for the season. You could almost say that the season itself, is the easy part. Our 2009 team was no different. The kids started showing up the first day of June baseball classes, with high hopes and great desire. We worked through the hot months of the summer, dealing with the daily grind of sorting out who would be on the team and who would be sitting out the year. There were some kids that felt that the work and dedication was a little too much to handle and they dropped out. There were others who could see that they didn't stack up to the other players and they too, fell by the wayside. However, there were the rest of the kids, who met the challenge and dealt with the ups and downs, who stuck it out and eventually made the team. This summary is about them!
It was very strange; but early on, you could tell that there was something different about this club. Yes! we knew we had some talent; but more important, there was a chemistry that permeated this team from top to bottom. Everyone pretty well knew who our potential "star" players would be; but everyone seemed to pull together to contribute. This team, was like one! It is not often that you come across a group of people who are so close to each other that they seem like a family; but this was one of those teams! These kids did everything together, whether it was lunch at Del Taco, getting together for an evening of fun or just hanging out, they were together and it showed in everything they did!
From day one, this group had the following goals in mind; make the playoffs, win the conference and win the State Championship! It seemed as though nothing was going to come in the way of those ambitions. We had several kids who were showing the ability to receive Division One scholarships and some that had a chance to be drafted professionally; but as it was well put by one of our players, "The only thing that mattered was getting the State Championship Rings"! As it turned out, the team fell short of that final goal; but up until the last out was made of that final game, their determination was there! This team never gave up and I do believe that if we were to play that final game again, we would win it!
The 2009 Mt. San Jacinto Baseball Team, was a fun team to be around! There were so many characters on the team. We had our share of practical jokers, as well as some serious kids. We had our share of scholars and a few that thought that they were in school just to play baseball; but they all bonded and had a great time doing it! They hung together through good times and bad and we had a few of both!
The Eagles began their season against LA City College. It would be the first test to see if this team was going to be as good as the coaching staff thought it would be. Who can forget the thirty-two scouts who showed up with their radar guns, to see Drew Madrigal throw? It was quite the scene to watch them all huddle by the bull pen as Drew started to warm up. Drew, didn't disappoint them as he pitched the first, of what would be a State team leading sixteen complete games, striking out thirteen hitters and leading The Jac to a fourteen to one victory. Little did we know that by season's end, San Jacinto would have tallied thirty-five wins and so the journey began!
The season continued, as the Eagles would record victories against Compton, LA City and Pasadena, before they would make their annual trip to Imperial Valley. It was our first and only bus trip of the year; but it was a chance for everyone to be together and enjoy the scenic beauty of the "desert", for three hours at seven o'clock in the morning. It was certainly a difficult trip; but one of those events that you will look back on in time and say that it was a special event. When that day was over, the Eagles had recorded two more wins and were now six and zero for the season.
Mother nature stepped in for what should have been our seventh and eighth games. We were scheduled to play Citrus in a double header; but the rains came and how it did pour! The double header was cancelled, so our next test would be at Mt. Sac. The Eagles were undefeated going into the Mt. Sac game and we all knew this would be a solid test of our club. We were tied at two for most of the game; but Sac scored once in the seventh to go up three to two. In the top of the ninth, the Eagles gave us a glimpse of what this team would be like as they rallied to tie the game at three. That never give up spirit was beginning to show. The tenth was unkind to San Jacinto as the Mounties were able to push across a run to win the game four to three; but the writing was on the wall. The Eagles were special and there would be no team that they would throw in the towel to!!
The Eagles picked up where they had left off, before their loss to Mt. Sac, and tacked on another double header sweep against Imperial Valley. It wasn't so much that the Eagles defeated the Arabs, it was how they did it! BJ Salsbury, no-hit Imperial, recording the first no-hitter in school history! This would be one of many first for San Jacinto. The Eagles now stood at eight and one on the season. San Jacinto was looking forward to their next game with Palomar. Palomar, is traditionally a strong club and they would be ranked either number one or two in Southern California for most of the year. It was going to be a difficult game and when it was over, Palomar had handed the Eagles their second loss of the season
As it turned out, the Eagles were able to make up one of their rained out games with Citrus, but it was not in the cards for the Eagles that day. BJ Salsbury, who would eventually become the Foothill Conference Pitcher of the Year and a possible JC All-American, just couldn't seem to get himself on track as he suffered the loss. The Eagles made a great effort in the defeat; but were hampered by the inability of Johnny Eshleman, to overcome an arm injury, taking a potent bat out of the lineup. The Eagles would go down to the Owls nine to six; but the optimism was high!
Saddleback was next on the schedule. Saddleback is a traditional power out of the Orange Empire League, so it was going to be a difficult challenge at best. Another problem also befell the Eagles as several of their key players had to stay behind to take exams that day. The Eagles hung tough; but eventually couldn't hold up to the depth of the Saddleback team and fell 18-4 and giving them a season record of eight and four. Little did the Eagles know that this third consecutive loss, would be their longest losing streak of the season and that they would only have nine more losses, with three of them coming in the playoffs!
The long awaited Conference schedule was now ahead. The Eagles had as their first Conference foe, Barstow! San Jacinto had little trouble in handling the Vikings as they won all three games to open Conference with a three and zero mark. The third Barstow game marked the season debut of Jacob Negrete, who came in to shut down a Barstow rally and preserve the third Conference victory. The Barstow series was a preview of the offense that San Jacinto would display during the season as the Eagles pounded out forty-eight hits in the three games, including six home runs! The Eagles were now entering the exciting part of their journey!
Chaffey was next up for San Jacinto. Game one was a real dog fight as the lead changed hands several times; but in the end the Panthers took game one. Game two again saw BJ Salsbury do his thing as he shut down the Panthers five to two. Game three was the "UNSPOKEN" game. We promised our team after that loss, that we would never discuss that game again! I am continuing to honor that commitment and just say that we lost. The loss brought the Eagles Conference record to four and two and their season record to twelve and six.
Rio Hondo was the third League opponent for San Jacinto and the Eagles made a statement in game one as they handed the Roadrunners a six to nothing defeat. Game two was another statement as the Eagles' power once again came alive as Johnny Eshleman, Drew Madrigal, Randy Bruce, Anthony Smith, Jeff Bunch and Ryan LeFevre all had home runs. Bruce, Smith and Bunch, had back-to-back JACS! Game three didn't turn out as good for San Jacinto, although they did make one of their valiant comebacks as they scored five runs in the top of the eighth inning, including Josh Ray's two out homer, to tie the game, only to see Rio, squeeze across a run in the bottom of the ninth to win it! Larry Gibson, Robert Byers and KC Campbell all had great outings in relief; but the Gods were not with us in that game. The Jac now stood at six and three in Conference and fourteen and seven on the season, with a lovely van ride to their next opponent, Cerro Coso, looming!
Cerro Coso, is the next closest thing to Never-Never Land, on the planet earth! It's a three hour van ride through some of the most uninspiring scenery that one could imagine! I don't know about the other vans; but in my van the most interesting conversations of the year took place! We discussed everything from politics, to sports, religion, girl friends, marriage and just about anything else one could imagine! My van was lucky enough to have a stellar group of academics, including Garland Norton and Randy Bruce! I don't think we took a van ride during the season, without Garland not having a comment or something to say! He was a total riot and made each one of our trips a lot of fun! Devin Greco was fighting a cold during that trip, as were several of the other players on the team; but it had no effect on our ability to play as we took care of Cerro Coso, by taking them at their place and then finishing them off at our place, for a three game sweep! The Jac was now on a roll and beginning their longest winning streak of the season, which would see them not lose again until they had captured twelve straight victories!
San Jacinto now had to set its sights on Victor Valley. Coach Alonzo, had become very sick and combined with that was the fact that his daughter was getting married, so it would be up to Coach Holden to run the show! Fortunately for me, the club did not let me down as we took another three games from the Rams! It was in game one, that Coach Holden pulled BJ Salsbury, in order to give his arm a rest. Can we all remember the look that BJ gave me when he was pulled? I still don't think he wants to talk to me? BJ, had been pitching well; but we knew we would need his arm as our season progressed and we were in good hands for the win as Larry Gibson and Michael Crain finished off the game. Game two of that series almost turned into a nightmare as the Rams were holding a three to two lead, entering the seventh inning of a seven inning game. Things looked bad; but we had our comeback shoes on and comeback we did, as we exploded for four runs in the top of the final frame to come away with a six to three win and keep our streak alive! Key hits by Salsbury, Greco and Caldwell, along with walks to Travis Hansen and Randy Bruce and Johnny Eshleman getting hit by a pitch, was enough to secure the win. Our overall record now stood at twenty and six and our Conference Record was growing as it stood at twelve and three.
A non-conference game followed the Victor Valley series as Compton came to town for a rematch. The game was closer than it should have been; but Compton, always seems to play San Jacinto tough, as they did that day. Compton was up four to three in the seventh; but the Eagles fought back to eventually win the game seven to six. The win over Compton gave us our twenty-first win of the season and put us five shy of tying the all time school record for wins at twenty-six!
April, was beginning and the regular season was rapidly coming to a close; but before we get back to the games can anyone remember the little prank that BJ and Drew pulled on Coach Alonzo? Does April 1, ring a bell? Yes! It was April 1, and that meant that it was April Fool's Day! With April Fools came a little joke on our coach! We all knew that there were just a few Conference games left and that it was important for everybody to take care of themselves and not do anything stupid! Well, BJ and Drew, felt it would be interesting to see what Coach Alonzo's reaction would be if they informed him that they were both injured and that Drew, was in the emergency room with a broken foot, as a result of him playing in a "pick-up" basketball game! Garrett, had phoned Coach Alonzo and he didn't take it too good and to top that off, BJ came walking into practice on crutches! It was all in good fun and only helped to keep everyone loose. BJ wasn't hurt and Drew had not been playing basketball, but that's the type of team it was. Anything to break up the grind of a long season and that little April Fool's drama did just that!
Our friends at San Bernardino were next on our list of Conference foes! Both the coaching staff and the players, have several friends at San Bernardino, and although we play to beat each other's heads in, we have a great deal of respect and fondness for them, as we believe they have for us. However, when the umpire says, "play ball", all bets are off! We opened the series at San Bernardino and came away with a solid eight to four victory; but next would be a double header with SBVC at our place and it's always difficult to win two game in a row, especially against good teams and San Bernardino was certainly a good team! When the dust had settled in game one, Mt. San Jacinto had recorded a twelve to nothing victory! It was now going to be interesting to see if The Jac, could keep the momentum going in game two? It didn't take too long to find out how things would go in the second game as San Jacinto scored five in the first and seven in the third to jump out to a twelve to one lead and go on to record a nineteen to five win and secure our twenty-fourth victory of the season and improve our Conference Record to fifteen and three!
We were now in the home stretch of the season; but we had to take a week away from Conference, to play in the Palomar Tournament. First up in the tournament would be number one ranked Palomar, a team that had beaten us earlier in the year! The game was tight all the way; but the Eagles managed to take a four to three win, to gain their eleventh win in a row! The second game of the tournament had the Eagles traveling to San Diego Mesa, who was also highly ranked at the time. It could have been that the Eagles were starting to feel a little tired, as they fell behind Mesa seven to one after four innings. Once again, the Eagles put on one of their trademark comebacks, scoring six in the top of the fifth, to tie the game. The Eagles tacked on a single run in the sixth, to take an eight to seven lead; but Mesa, tied it in the seventh. It took the ninth inning to break things open as San Jacinto added four more runs to win the game twelve to eight, giving San Jacinto twelve straight wins and improving their overall record to twenty-five and seven. The final game of the tournament again pitted the Eagles against Palomar and it was this game that ended the winning streak at twelve as Palomar handed the Eagles a seven to three loss.
April 16, saw the Eagles back in Conference as they hosted College of the Desert. Desert, has always been a tough club to play against and that Thursday, game was no different as the Roadrunners handed the Eagles a heartbreaking loss three to two. The Roadrunners had taken a three to nothing lead heading into the ninth inning. Do we remember their steal of home? The Eagles again tried to comeback as they mounted an attack in the bottom of the ninth, which saw Drew Madrigal lead off the inning with a single and then Garrett Caldwell, hit a mammoth shot over the right center field fence. Unfortunately, the rally would end there and see the Eagles get a Conference loss which put them at fifteen and four. San Jacinto, now had to travel to COD, to take them on in a Saturday doubleheader. The Eagles knew that they could not afford another Conference loss; but still came out cold and found themselves down to COD two to one, heading into the sixth inning of a seven inning game. It was almost like it was scripted. What would a win be without a JAC INNING and in this case, TWO JAC INNINGS? Bill Howlett, those are for you! The Eagles scored three in the sixth and five in the seventh, to win the game nine to two. The game saw Josh Peters come into the game in the seventh and record three straight outs for the save! The second game proved a bit easier for the Jac, as they handed COD a seven to two drubbing and placing their Conference Record at seventeen and four. KC Campbell, did a great job in coming in for Jacob Negrete and preserving the win.
Since there are nine teams in the Foothill Conference, each team has a bye week. Chaffey held a one game lead over San Jacinto and San Jacinto and Rio Hondo were tied with identical Conference records. San Jacinto was coming into their last Conference series with Antelope Valley, while Rio Hondo and Chaffey, each had two series left to play. Rio Hondo had to play Victor Valley and then San Bernardino, while Chaffey had the more difficult finish, having to play San Bernardino and COD. On Thursday, all three teams were playing and at the end of the day, nothing had changed. Chaffey, Rio Hondo and San Jacinto had all won their games. San Jacinto had posted a fifteen to five victory over Antelope Valley. On Saturday, all three teams had to play double headers. After game one, nothing had changed. Again, all three teams had won, with San Jacinto, defeating Antelope twelve to one. The tension was very high for game two; because we were also concerned about the other games. In about the fifth inning of our game, we received word that San Bernardino was defeating Chaffey and just after our game with Antelope concluded, in which San Jacinto won by a score of twenty-four to five, we got word that SBVC had defeated Chaffey, creating a three way tie for first! This now created its own set of problems; because Chaffey had defeated San Jacinto twice, Rio Hondo, had defeated Chaffey twice and San Jacinto, defeated Rio Hondo twice, which meant that for San Jacinto to win the title, Chaffey would have to lose one more game and their last opponent was COD.
The last week of the regular season saw San Jacinto at Long Beach. Once again it was a long trip in the vans, through Orange County and in traffic, for us to get to Long Beach. Chaffey, had already defeated COD at Chaffey on Tuesday to win game one, with two left to play at COD. Many of the San Jacinto players had attended the game on Tuesday, to cheer on COD, but it was to no avail. Chaffey's first game was started earlier in the day and was just finishing up when San Jacinto's game with Long Beach was beginning. Just before San Jacinto was to hit, the team got the word that Chaffey had been beaten, which meant that San Jacinto had won the Conference and would go in as the number one seed! A dog pile ensued in right field and it became apparent that the game with Long Beach, may not go our way and it didn't, as the Eagles dropped their last regular season game eight to three. The Eagles' hearts were not heavy though as they knew that they were in the State Playoffs and would be playing a home series in the Regionals! The Eagles' final overall record ended at 31-10, giving San Jacinto the best record in school history! The Eagles had surpassed the former record for most games won by five and set a school record for fewest losses in a season. The Eagles' final Conference Record finished at 20-4 and giving them their first title since 1989. It was now on to the State Regional Finals, where their opponent would be Cerritos.
A weeks worth of preparation had gone into fixing up the Eagles' field for the Regionals. Everything had to be perfect; because our team was a "special team" and we wanted everyone to know! Cerritos, was a ranked team and had a long tradition of being a power in Junior College Baseball. The Eagles had played strong teams all year and were not intimidated by the rich tradition of Cerritos Baseball and it showed as San Jacinto handed the Falcons a thirteen to seven thumping in game one, of the three game series. San Jacinto, needed to win only one more game to advance to the Super Regionals. The first game win marked the first time in school history that a San Jacinto team had recorded a home playoff win! Game two had a little more drama and at the end of the game, San Jacinto found itself suffering an 8-7 loss and needing to win the final game to advance. Game two also marked the loss of one of the Jac's key players, Jeff Bunch, who broke his foot running down a Cerritos runner. Jeff's bat and defense would be sorely missed in games to come. Game three was a "barn burner" and found the Eagles having to have one of their dramatic comebacks to win. Down ten to three, entering the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cerritos Falcons were feeling pretty good about their chances; but I guess they hadn't heard of the famous San Jacinto "JAC INNINGS"? The Eagles mustered a small attack in the sixth, scoring once and narrowing Cerritos' margin to ten to four. The seventh inning proved fatal for Cerritos, as the Eagles scored eight runs to take a twelve to ten lead. Cerritos tried to come back in the ninth and scored a run, to get them within a run; but that was as close as they would get as San Jacinto hung on for a twelve to eleven win and advance to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history! The heroes were many! Travis Hansen's key pinch hit base hit in the seventh, to keep the inning alive was huge! Josh Peters coming in to shut down a Cerritos rally in the sixth was outstanding. Peters went on to pitch two and two-thirds innings of work to prevent the Falcons from mounting another attack and BJ Salsbury, coming in relief, to record the final strikeout was crucial. Billy Howlett, may have had one of the largest roles in that game, as he came into catch the final two innings. Without Billy, we would have never been able to use Travis Hansen, who we already said got a key pinch hit. Howlett, held on to the final fouled off strike and gave the Eagles the win!
It was now unfamiliar territory that San Jacinto was entering, The Super Regionals, which pitted the eight best teams in Southern California against each other. San Jacinto, was placed in the Orange Coast Super, while four other teams were in the Palomar Super. San Jacinto's first opponent would be Cypress College, a power in the strong Orange Empire League. The Eagles spent the night before their first game in Orange County. It was the first time this season that the Eagles had spent an evening away from home. It could have been said that that played a part in the Eagles coming out flat in game one; but whatever the reason, they just didn't seem to have it and were downed by the Chargers six to nothing. This put the Eagles in a difficult position; because they would have to win their way back through the losers bracket, meaning they would now have to win four straight games, in order to reach the State Finals.
San Jacinto's second game was against Saddleback, another solid Orange Empire team and a team which had defeated San Jacinto earlier in the year by a score of eighteen to four. It was apparent from the start that Saddleback felt that we were just a roadblock in their path to ultimate victory. I think they were surprised when we handed them a convincing eleven to six loss and eliminated them from the playoffs! Every San Jacinto starter got at least one hit and the defense was outstanding as the Eagles committed no errors. The guys were all riding high as we went to the Del Taco, across from Orange Coast College and had lunch before we were to have a rematch with Cypress in the afternoon. It was not a surprise, that having been beaten by Cypress six to nothing in the first game of the Supers, that they would think that we would be no match for them; but they were SO wrong!
Jacob Negrete started on the mound for San Jacinto, and threw a solid inning number one; surrendering one run. In inning two, he retired the side without allowing a run. The Eagles were down one to nothing, entering the bottom of the second. San Jacinto exploded for five runs, to take a five to one lead. Cypress scored two in the third to bring the score to five to three. The Chargers tied the game in the fourth scoring twice. The Eagles tacked on a run in the fifth, to take a six to five advantage. Josh Peters had relieved Negrete in the third and done a great job, but started to tire in the seventh. KC Campbell and Robert Byers, relieved Peters in the seventh; but couldn't seem to stop the Chargers from scoring as they tacked on four runs to take a nine to six lead. Anthony Martinez had relieved Byers in the seventh, to stop the Chargers. Can anyone guess what's coming now? JAC INNING!!!! The bottom of the seventh began with Madrigal grounding out and then the roof fell in on Cypress! Josh Ray and Garrett Caldwell both got on base with hits and up to the plate stepped Randy BRRRRUUUUUCCCCCEEEE!!!! Randy hit a rocket over the right center field fence to knot the score at nine. Cypress failed to score in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth Johnny Eshleman lead off by being hit by a pitch. Eshleman stole second and was driven home on a single by Drew Madrigal, giving the Eagles a 10-9 lead and securing the win. Anthony Martinez, did an outstanding job in relief and gained the win for San Jacinto. The win propelled the Eagles into the Championship round against Orange Coast College. The Eagles' task would be great, as they would have to beat the number one ranked team in Southern California, two times in order to advance.
It would be against Orange Coast that the Eagles' season would come to an end. "Dog tired" and hurt, the Eagles put up a valiant fight and at one time were as close as four to one; but the Pirates were rested and had a deep roster, full of fresh pitching and it was just too much to overcome as the Eagles bowed out of the tournament with a seven to one loss to Orange Coast. As it has sometimes been said,"on another day, things may have been different"; but on this day, the Pirates were the better team; but we should emphasize the word "this"; because I am not totally convinced that if we were healthy and rested, that we wouldn't beat them! I guess we will never know the answer to that question; but what we do know is that the 2009 Mt. San Jacinto Baseball Team are Champions, one and all! We proved all year long that we can win! We proved that we can play with anyone! We proved that there is not a team around that will intimidate us! We may have fallen short of our goal; but we sure enjoyed the journey! This is a team that I will never forget. I have made many friends on this club and all of the kids have bright futures ahead of them. Some are going to go on to school and play ball, some are going to test the waters of professional ball and some may never play organized baseball again; but one thing is for sure, none of us will ever forget this team, this season, or the legacy this team has created for itself. You all are a truly special group and I consider it an honor to have been able to coach you! Hold your heads high and know that there is nobody who can ever take away what you have accomplished. Also know that the school and coaching staff were extremely proud of the way that you represented yourselves and the school. Thanks for the memories and best of luck to all of you!
Coach Holden & Joanie (We are both going to miss you a great deal)
The 2008 season is now officially in the books and what a season it was! Yes! We had our share of down moments. There was some yelling, some depression, some difficult losses and even some misunderstandings; and oh yes, the destruction of our field in October! You probably all thought you had signed up for a field maintenance class, since we spent most of our time shoveling sand, fixing wind screens, repairing fences and a host of other things that had nothing to do with baseball. It's hard to believe that from October to January, we weren't able to get on our field; but that's what happened! That being said,there were so many more positive things to be said about this year.
Let's begin at the end. The Eagles had the second best record for wins in the history of the school. San Jacinto won 25 games, only one short of the school record and a few bounces here or there and we may have surpassed that record; but baseball is funny and the ball doesn't always bounce your way. Fortunately for San Jacinto, it bounced our way seven more games then it did last year, as we surpassed last seasons total of 18 wins, not bad for a team made up mostly of first year players!
San Jacinto began the season with a rain out, as their first game against Southwestern College was lost to the elements. It was difficult waiting for the season to start; but start it did, as the Eagles traveled to Mission Viejo, to take on the always tough Saddleback Gauchos. San Jacinto, came within a questionable call of winning that game, as we lost to Saddleback 4-3.
Yes, there were some blow outs; but there were also some exciting comebacks. Who can forget Josh Barry coming off the bench as a pinch hitter, to hit a grand slam and bring the Eagles from behind to defeat Compton! That marked the first win of the season, after losing their first three, and set the Eagles on an odyssey of recording a seven game winning streak!
There were certainly some interesting games! Imperial Valley comes to mind, as well as Barstow, as the Eagles had to learn how to play baseball in high winds and sand. Imperial Valley, didn't turn out good for the Eagles; but perhaps they learned from that experience as they encounted the same elements later in the season and managed to pound out a 21-7 win against the Barstow Vikings!
Heart Breaks? We had a couple. Who doesn't remember our 3-2 lead into the eighth against Mesa, only to see Mesa hit a two run homer in the eighth, with two outs, to win the game 4-3. You might recall the double header loss to Victorville, which turned out to be important to us in the end, as the Eagles had just come off defeating Victor Valley 15-1, only to drop both ends of a double header two days later to the same team.
Laughers? Well, one comes to mind in particular. Can we say San Bernardino? Was that a rout or what? Poor Drew, everything he threw they hammered! I don't think they missed hitting a ball all day? It wouldn't have mattered who was throwing, the Wolverines were hot that game and we have to tip our cap to them! Drew was throwing great; but in baseball, sometimes your best just isn't good enough. What's interesting is that in game two, we beat them to gain some sense of revenge!
Probably one of the highlights of the season, were the three victories over Palomar! That's never been done before; but we certainly hope that it isn't the last time. Palomar is a fine team; but we just had their number this year and we are glad that it turned out that way!
Perhaps the most exciting two games of the season were at Cerro Coso? Let's think back to how cold it was! Let's also think back to how windy it was! Let's remember the three and a half hour bus ride there and the three and a half hour bus ride back; but most important let's not forget that we beat them twice, as Bryant Veiga threw up his arms after recording the final out in the second game, for the sweep!
The most exciting game of the season? There may be some disagreements; but for me, it was probably the one that took nine weeks to play! The game started on March 8, and ended on May 2! It would have never happened, if it hadn't been for Johnny Skala's home run in the bottom of the fifth, with night falling and our team down 4-3. Skala's blast forced that game to be suspended and it had to be played later. As it turned out, the game was finished on May 2, and we left no doubt that we wanted the win, as Larry Gibson, threw two scoreless innings and the hitting of Danny Aradas, Brant Alonzo, Anthony Smith, Johnny Eshleman and Bryant Veiga, allowed the Eagles to score three and go on to a 7-4 win, giving the Eagles, our twenty-fith win!
The end of seasons are always bitter-sweet. You are happy that all of your Sophomores are going on to continue their careers and education; but at the sametime, you are sad to see them go! I know, we did some yelling at some of you and I would say that there probably could have even been a little more yelling done; but it was all for the purpose of making you better players and better people! For the most part, it was an outstanding experience for our coaching staff! We really think the world of all of you guys! You were a great team and a great group of kids! To our Sophomores, we want to wish you the best of luck next year and in future years. For our returning Freshman, we want you to remember how close we came to getting in the play offs! A couple more wins and it was ours for the taking! We want you to come back next season and strive even harder then you did this year, to achieve that goal! We want you to be leaders; because the incoming Freshmen, are going to be as lost as you were when you arrived. Lead in a positive way and show them the way to act and to win! You've experienced a taste of success this season and we are hungry for more! It's there for the taking, you just have to want it bad enough!
No doubt, there will be some ups and downs next season as well. Let's try to keep the "downs", to a minimum. Have fun and strive to be the best!
The Coaching Staff would like to congratulate all of our Sophomores on a great Junior College Career. Make us proud of you; but more important, "Make Yourself Proud Of You"! We have all the confidence in the world that you will do just fine! Congratulations! We certainly hope that you feel that we've made you better players and better people?
Best Wishes From Your Van Drivers:
Coach Alonzo
Coach Bunch
Coach Shaw
Coach Holden