Baseball season is fast approaching at Redwood and the Rangers are preparing to have yet another strong season.
By: Tyler Stark
The Rangers are coming off of a season that saw the team post a 24-6 record, an undefeated record in EYL play, and an appearance in the CIF Central Section Semi Finals.
Coach Dan Hydash is back for his 11th year as the Redwood head coach. He says, “As always, we expect to be in the mix for championships. League and Central Section championships. We set high goals each season as motivation to put the work in to be able to compete with anyone.”
This season will be a pivotal one for the Rangers, several key starters from last year’s team are now gone. Last year’s group was loaded with talent, but the team was also loaded with leadership. This year’s group will have to have guys step up and become leaders to make sure this program gets to where it expects to be.
While this year’s Ranger Baseball squad is not stacked with senior talent in the same way that last year’s group was, this group does feature a few veteran guys. Easton Rogers ‘24 has been a varsity member since his sophomore year. Rogers is currently the longest serving member the Redwood dugout has to offer.
He says, “I’m feeling a lot of mixed emotions cause I’m excited to compete with my teammates but it’s also sad that it’s the one last ride.”
Mateo Alonzo ‘24, is coming into this season and finds himself coming into this season focusing on consistency.
He says, “I’m constantly working every day to stay consistent with a successful swing, overall do whatever it takes to make the team win.”
Jaxon Griffiths ‘25, expects the identity of this team to be a bit different from last years. He says, “I think last year’s team had a lot more power and pitching but this year we will have to be very situational and scrappy.”
Last year’s squad supplied a lot of power which resulted in a lot of home runs, as Griffiths points out this team will most likely have to rely a lot more on timely base hits and good approaches at the plate if the guys are going to find success.
Coming into this season Joel Llerenas says he wants this team to be very close. He says, “Growing a bond together as a team so that the boys don’t feel so much as teammates but as brothers.
Tyler Stark
Tyler Stark ('24) is in his freshmen year, and this is his first year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Tyler hopes to work for Sports Illustrated in the future. you can contact him by email with: tyler.st3800@vusd.us