The baseball team prepares to tackle the 2025 season.

The Barstow baseball team has spent the last few weeks preparing for the season ahead.

This year’s team is mostly made up of underclassmen, unlike the last few seasons, but Head Coach Nathan Moore is pleased to report that the team’s attitude and commitment level have been super strong to start off the season. 

Carson Matula ‘25, committed to Case Western Reserve baseball, has also noticed the same thing, “Everyone’s been super high intensity, high focus, and everyone’s really trying to get better to prepare for the season.” 

Due to Barstow’s two week spring break, the start of the baseball season can be a little slow. Since this team is young, Coach Moore and his assistant coaches, Coach Jacob Franey and Coach John Pattin, have had to adjust their coaching style these first couple weeks to help these new players adjust to practice schedules and learn how they play the game. However, with over 75 total years in coaching experience shared between the three of them, their knowledge of the game and camaraderie has already been a big help in that process. 

The first 30 minutes of practice is largely player driven, as this is their time to change out, get to the field, and stretch before the coaches arrive. Then, they spend a few minutes on positional work with the coaches. The bulk of practice is then focused on offensive and defensive drills. The last few minutes of practice are usually spent working on a point of emphasis that coaches noticed needed improvement before the next game. 

Nine members of the class of 2024 were also players on the baseball team. Maintaining team culture and chemistry after such a loss can be challenging. While coaches and players admit they aren’t there yet, they will be by May. They have several team activities planned, including a trip to Omaha, that will help them along the way. 

Some long standing team members, like Robert Waldeck ‘27 and Matula, have stepped up into leadership roles to guide the rest of their team towards success and bond with one another, “There’s no replacing the leadership and experience they had,” says Matula. “There’s definitely going to be a bit of a learning curve, but I’m confident we’re going to get way better over the course of the season.” 

“We’re also looking ahead at next year to make sure that we can keep growing,” adds Waldeck. 

“They’ve been really helpful in getting us in order,” says freshman Sam Cohen. “It’s become a much better environment for all of us.” 

Another thing that has helped the team maintain their culture is the involvement from alumni players. Michael Yagan ‘24  and others have come back to Barstow to speak during player meetings or help out during practices. Their past and present dedication to the Barstow baseball team will be instrumental in the continued development of this year’s team, and it helps set great examples for younger players.  

“We put a bullseye on our back last year. We were perfect in conference, which has never been done, so every single team in our conference is going to look to get back at us,” explains Coach Moore. 

In light of this challenge, the Coaches hope that the team will be able to take one day at a time and have fun learning from all the obstacles they will encounter this season. “We’ve been the bully the last couple seasons…Despite wins and losses, I want us to continue to compete, even when we don’t have our best day.” he adds. 

Players also share a similar goal for the team this season. Cohen ‘28 is hoping that they’ll be able to have a lot of success, “It doesn’t mean we have to have a good record. As long as everyone is getting better. If we win a lot of games, that’d be cool, but getting there is the most important thing this year since we have so many young guys.” 

Based on the strength of this year’s game schedule, Coach Moore is hopeful that the team will be ready to go by the time Districts roll around in May. 

In his fifteen years of experience, Coach Moore is most thankful for the character of Barstow players specifically. “They’re very humble, they thank us every day, and they’re just positive individuals. You can’t teach that. You can’t coach that. It’s been really cool and rewarding to experience that on a daily basis.”  

The players feel similarly about their coaching staff and their efforts to build connections within their team, “They’re focused on making people better, but ultimately try to make everybody better through each other,” says Waldeck. 

The last three seasons, including this year, Barstow has had baseball players move on to play at the collegiate level, and Coach Moore thinks that helps garner support for the team, “Our facilities are fantastic as well, so it’s a great place to come out and watch the guys play.”

“We have a lot of talent, a lot of undiscovered talent, and people being there brings even more energy to the actual team itself because it gives you more of a reason to play. It makes you feel good on the inside when you do something cool and everyone’s there to see it,” adds Cohen. 

Matula and Coach Moore want to remind the community that the participation of the crowd also helps motivate the players, and they’d really appreciate having a full house at home games this season. Summit Christian and Pembroke are on Barstow’s radar this year, in particular. 

“I know a lot of people don’t like watching baseball,” says Cohen, “It can kinda be a boring sport to watch, but when action happens, it happens really fast.” He also suggests that, besides those students showing up out of the goodness of their hearts in support of their peers, some points could also be rewarded for attendance at home games to help motivate upper school students. 

Waldeck puts it differently, just in case you didn’t get the memo, “Go to the games. Plain and simple.” 

Their next home game is on Wednesday against Christ Prep at 4:30, so be sure to head out and support!