Vanessa Mendoza
Staff Writer
As the 2022 baseball season comes to a close, your MVHS Diablos made it to CIF; Take a closer look at the team that made all of this a possibility.
With a 12-16 record in season and a 6-6 record in league, baseball has made their way into CIF. Their first CIF game was on Thursday, May 5 at Long Beach Millikan.
Unfortunately, the Diabos took a tough loss in round one, losing 10-1 to the Rams. They ended their season with a 21-22 record.
The Varsity team has 24 players in total. The team consists of nine Seniors, nine Juniors, five Sophomores, and only one Freshman.
The nine Seniors are Dakota Gifford, Mikey Laughlin, Ben Castelli, Jake Tyler, Jack O’Connell, Thomas Fleming, Gavin Brady, Marcus Mendoza, and Ethan Ruppe.
The team has some celebrations when they score or hit a double. When asked what inspires these celebrations, Gifford responded with, “Our run celebration is to show unity as a team all of us huddling up together getting loud and going crazy sparks a certain type of energy that is just contagious, when the team has your back good things will happen.”
The Outfielder also went on to say, “When we hit a double we do the ‘bean top’ credit to our starting quarterback Kadin for that, coming in and being an instant leader making everyone laugh and have fun allows us to ease our nerves and remember we are playing a game.”
Fleming was asked what his best memory playing high school baseball for the last four years has been and he answered, “My favorite memory was winning the league championship last year with all of the Seniors.”
O’Connell was also asked the same question and the Pitcher responded with, “I would say the best memories I would have in the past four years from baseball is making all these friendships and all the memories that came along the way with the guys.”
When Mendoza was asked who his biggest inspiration on and off the field is, he said, “Kobe Bryant because he worked two times as hard off the court than on it so the game is easier because of a grueling practice.”
The nine Juniors on the team are Brandon Cole, Aaron Serrato, Andreas Nilsen, Colin Laurent, Hunter Pogue, Jack Wade, Evan Ray, Jake Troutman and Josh Brons.
When asked what goes through his mind as he steps up to the plate, Nilsen responded with, “When I go up to the plate I’m looking for a fastball I can hit as hard as possible to get the job done for the team.” The Infielder has had 7 RBIs this year with two home runs.
The five Sophomores are Travis Anderson, Keenan Anzai, Tyler Holland, Jalen McDowell and Jack Matranga.
Anzai was asked about what his favorite memory playing baseball in general is and he said, “Seeing the guys everyday at practice.”
The one Freshman on the team is Jack Boucher. The Infielder has a .276 batting average, 31 plate appearances, 29 at bats, four runs, eight hits, seven RBIs, and two doubles.
The Diablos team leaders are Anzai with a .333 batting average, Brady with a .471 on base percentage, Nilsen with two home runs, Boucher with four stolen bases, Troutman with a 1.91 ERA and Cole with a 1.000 fielding percentage.
Overall, the Varsity Diablos Baseball team has great chemistry and they always stay hype. Going to the games truly is an experience being able to see how well everyone gets along and how they always lift one another up. Everyone plays for the team and not just themselves.
