Baseball is on its way to avenging its state loss, hoping to achieve this through team connections and leadership.
The Barstow baseball team has been hot ever since the 2022-2023 season, making it to the state semifinals for the first time in more than 5 years. After a heartbreaking loss against Licking High School, the team is hungry for a state title demonstrated in their pre-season and in-season practices, with an emphasis on team focus and strong leadership qualities.
The team officially started practice on February 26th, but has been doing preseason workouts for several weeks leading up to their first practice.
Senior Michael Yagan ‘24 says, “It’s been a little weird with all the snow days, but we do conditioning twice a week, agility drills, and we play long toss and we do core exercises. It’s just to get back in shape.”
Despite the setbacks they’ve already faced this year such as a multitude of snow days and days off, the team has made consistent practice a priority. “We’ve been going out on the field, even when it was snowing,” said senior William Keidel ‘24.
Baseball preseason practices on Tuesdays and Fridays, fine-tuning their skills to hit the ground running in the regular season. During the regular season, the team practices Monday through Friday, from 3:45 – 6:00. Usually, the group warms up and stretches together, before breaking into groups to practice different parts of the game.
Yagan, for example, mainly pitches and fields, while senior Alex Hart ‘24 practices batting and base running. There are, however, drills that the whole team participates in, demonstrating the unique nature of baseball, as a team sport built on individual performances.
What’s most defining about this team, after their desire to win, is its grade-level makeup. Yagan explains, “It’s interesting since there are a lot of seniors and a lot of freshmen. We have a lot of experience and leadership, but we just need to learn how to step it up this year even if it’s not easy. The freshmen are the future of the program.”
The freshmen, while only in their first season on the team, have already been contributing greatly to the team environment. “This new freshman class is accepting that they’re not the leaders and they’re following in the footsteps,” said Hart. “They’re wanting to become leaders, and that’s a really good thing to have out of freshmen.”
Seniors on this year’s team include Yagan, Hart, Keidel, Pierce Farinelli, Taylor Lacy, Reece Conaway, and David Guldin. Many of them have played on the same team together since elementary school, fostering a team connection more like a band of brothers than simply teammates.
The seniors want to create this environment for the freshmen as well, emphasizing team camaraderie as well as focus, which Yagan describes as a “big deal.” Yagan continues saying, “The seniors, sometimes, are the ones losing focus, but then you have to remember that the freshmen are looking at you as an example. We’ve talked about that at our player meetings, so that’s just important for us.”
Focusing on their preseason workouts has helped the players get back in the mental headspace for the game as well. “We’ll be teaching them exercises, teaching them how to react to situations, just because baseball is also a mental game,” said Keidel.
Conditioning has also been instrumental in creating team connections between the seniors and the freshman, and even reconnecting team members who haven’t played since last year. Yagan’s main goal for this year is to “have fun. I’m most excited, really, to just get back out there.”
The team’s brotherhood is apparent in the importance they place on their time together, on and off the field. “Having a group this good, where we all fit in really well together, is a blessing. Because dugouts, bus rides, winning, even losing we all have a good time together,” said Hart. “We all feed off each other, which is really great.”
Past the post-season, Yagan explains that baseball’s first game, “the doubleheader against Lawson is always good.”
Everyone should come out to Lawson to see the two-game matchup, always full of good moments for the team. “It’s always really good battles with them because they’re a very good team and well put together,” said Hart. “We struggled last year but we ended up beating them.” Other anticipated matchups are coming up against Summit Christian, St. Michaels, and, of course, Licking, as the team hunts for divisional and state wins.
Come out to the baseball team’s games this year for intense matchups, wonderful team moments, and even the absurd walk-up song selections. The doubleheader against Lawson is on March 23rd, at 11:00 and 1:00 PM. We hope to see you there!
