Rams Baseball Not Competing for 2021 Season

Fairmont Field in Pacifica, CA, where both City College and St. Ignatius College Preparatory men's baseball teams practice. Photo by Colton Webster/The Guardsman.

By Colton Webster

cwebster1963@gmail.com

 

Rams baseball has decided not to compete for the upcoming 2021 season according to players.

“Chances are our baseball team is probably opting out for the season, we’re just gonna focus on practicing, getting better,” said head baseball coach Mario Mendoza.

Currently Rams baseball, unlike other teams such as football or water polo, has not commenced in-person practice or conditioning. 

When asked if the team had begun any sort of in-person training, freshman right fielder Darren Leung said that there is currently no in-person training, “nothing at all, we haven’t started any kind of training… it’s kind of concerning at this point.”

As to why the team isn’t practicing in person, Mendoza points to issues with their field. Rams baseball shares Fairmont Field in Pacifica with St. Ignatius High School, a private Catholic high school based in San Francisco.

Fairmont Field in Pacifica, CA, where both City College and St. Ignatius College Preparatory men’s baseball teams practice. Photo by Colton Webster/The Guardsman.

When asked to elaborate on which issues reside in the field Mendoza declined to comment.

However, there is still hope for the players to compete in 2021, just without City College. “Most of my guys that I have right now [are] trying to get them into summer baseball programs so they can get some games in,” Mendoza said.

Rams pitcher Sean Mueller said he was given resources to club teams in San Diego, Florida, South Carolina, and Idaho. “Our coach is trying to get us out and able to play because he knows that it means a lot to us because we all love the game.”

Both Mueller and Leung plan on playing for club teams and the Rams simultaneously.

The team is not likely to compete because of the distance between the team members, the field, and the uncertainty of the season.

“We’re deep in March and we don’t even have a schedule for the season yet, who knows what type of season we’re going to have,” Mendoza said.“The CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) has already announced this season doesn’t count anyway.”

“It’s March something, we’re off-campus, some of my team doesn’t live in San Francisco,” Mendoza said. “They live in Sacramento, I have some guys in the LA area, and I can’t tell them to come out here and get a six-month lease to [say] maybe we might play, maybe we might practice.” 

When it came time to make a decision with their field issue at the time, with the coronavirus, with the living situation, Mendoza said it’s likely the team won’t play this season.

Mueller said that a lot of his teammates “were bummed, we were definitely hoping to actually be able to play but when you look at how much [the season] relies on different teams in different counties being able to compete you kind of realize there was no chance of there being able to play … we’re excited that we’ll be able to at least practice.”

“We’re putting these kids in limbo without knowing [so] me and my coach kind of decided we don’t have time. We kind of got screwed compared to everyone elsewhere we didn’t practice as much as other people did this whole time,” Mendoza said, referring to the COVID-19 restrictions on San Francisco schools versus schools based in other counties.

“For right now it’s probably off but like I said, things can change,” Mendoza said. “If everything opens up and everything looks better … we’ll see, take it day by day.”