Men’s Baseball is Back In Season
By David Chin
Baseball is back in season at city college with the Rams returning to the field after choosing to not participate during the 2021 season due to safety precautions during the pandemic.
The team is mostly made up of freshmen, and having skipped the 2021 season there is only room to grow for these young and promising ballplayers.
The team faces lots of obstacles like waning interest among players, as there are multiple accounts of players leaving the team and having a generally young team.
Rams baseball is off to a shaky start after losing their first five games with. Three of their five losses so far coming from one-run-deficits and the performance of a few key leaders on the team shines through the thickness of their losses.
Pacifica, California. Feb. 2. David Chin/The Guardsman
Infielder Jackson Wood has had a particularly hot start to the 2022 season with an astounding on-base-percentage of .545, meaning he reaches a base out of more than half of his at-bats.
The team’s overall on-base percentage is respectable at .350, with the team averaging about five runs per game. The offensive numbers are all fair and for a team full of freshmen, that is very promising.
Where the team seems to be struggling is their defensive numbers, with the team earned-run average sitting at a high 6.38 meaning the team allows about six runs per nine innings played. It is still very early in the season and this number could go down because of how early it is in the season and as players get better with more and more practices are underway.
There’s only a small sample size for the statistics of this team currently and with more practices and leadership within the team, they’re expected to make a big jump in defensive and offensive production.
Head Coach Mario Mendoza leads the team in practices and games with the focus to, “get better every game.”
“We have a lot of work to do … we’re young, we’re all freshmen, challenges with the field situation.” Mendoza said. “We have [more] obstacles than other teams but we’re working hard and getting better every day and I like the improvement we’ve been having.”
The team as a whole has a great sense of comradery as they are there playing for each other and competing for each other. “This team has great character. They love each other. They play hard for each other.” Mendoza said.
Sophomore outfielder Darren Leung chimed in on the strength this team shares with one another: “We’re trying to help each other and make good decisions for each other,” Leung said. “One of our struggles has been a general lack of players. Part of that is that a lot of people have been quitting. It’s not gonna stop us from trying to take W’s from other teams.”
It’s easy to see where this team may fall short, but it’s more than made up for in promise and ambition within the team. Young players are at the forefront of play and It’s an uphill climb for them as they become more and more familiar with the college baseball scene. It’s easy to see that there’s a lot of promise in this team in the eyes of Mendoza and one can expect great things to come.