By: Tyler Stark
The Redwood Varsity baseball team captured a dominant 15-2 win on Wednesday against Golden West. This was a big win for the Rangers as it marked their first win of West Yosemite League play.
This win over Golden West came after an up and down pre-season. At the time, the Rangers stood at a modest record of 5-5. The biggest reason for that record is the fact that they played so many Division 1 teams such as Buchanan (10-1) Clovis North (9-3), and other tough opponents.
In regards to the tough matchups, team captain, Lee Trevino, ‘21 said that despite the fact that they lost some games, he felt the pre-season went pretty well. He said that he felt that there were a lot of opportunities for him to be a leader for the team.
In regards to the high level play of those Clovis teams, Trevino says, “We like playing against those bigger Clovis schools simply because they make us better.” Trevino goes on to say that he feels playing those tough games in the pre-season gave them a big advantage throughout the regular season and into the playoffs.
Fellow captain, Diego Alvarado, ‘21 had some big takeaways from their pre-season. Alvarado said, “we have to pound the zone and just put good at bats together as a team.” Alvarado goes on to say that he feels the team competed well and learned how to face adversity.
Those experiences in the pre-season definitely helped them rise to the occasion on Wednesday. The victory was dominant and quite impressive. The whole team was firing on all cylinders.
Varsity baseball coach, Dan Haydash believes that a big reason they got the win was because of his team’s perpetration. Hadash says, “we work extremely hard before each game and hope that work pays off.”
Haydash goes on to say that he was extremely impressed with the games that Trevino, Ethan Garcia, ‘21, and Bo Rico, ‘23 all had at the plate. He also was really impressed with the pitching from Chase Banks, ‘21.
Banks said that he felt they did what they had to do to get the win. “My honest thoughts going into the game were that if I throw strikes and let my defense work behind me, the offense will do their thing, and we were gonna come out on top,” says Banks.
Banks goes on to say that this win was incredibly important, as it set the tone for the rest of the season.
Since that first win against Golden West, Redwood has advanced to 2-1 in league and an overall 6-6 record.
On Saturday, they played a double-header against Lemoore (10-3, 2-1) and El Diamante (8-6, 2-1).
The Rangers faced a strong El Diamante squad and fell short 4-3. The teams haven’t faced off since the 2019 season where El Diamante beat Redwood 5-4 then Redwood gave it back to the Miners a few days later with an 8-5 win.
Alvarado says, “It was definitely a good game, we came back and battled, but it just wasn’t enough. I feel like next time we will know what to expect and have a little more energy and fire.”
Fortunately, the teams will face off again on May 15th at Redwood and again on May 26th before entering the post-season.
Later that day, Washington State verbal commit, Daniel Parker, ’22,l ed the way with nine strikeouts bringing the team an 11-0 shutout win against Lemoore.
After a full week of games, Redwood picks right back up on Tuesday with an away game against Hanford (5-8, 1-2).
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
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