It could be a fun spring on the diamond for the Yuma High School baseball team.
“I’m pretty excited,” skipper Brady Nighswonger said. “We return a whole bunch of people from last year. We’re going to be older, so I expect us to be better.”
The Outlaws went 17-7 last season. They hosted a regional, winning the first game before losing to Monte Vista, coming up one short from advancing to the 2A double-elimination state tournament. Silas Baucke was the only senior in the regular rotation, and while he was the team’s top hitter and pitcher, there is a lot of promising young talent coming back.
Yuma was ranked No. 10 in 2A in the coaches’ preseason poll, meaning the Outlaws have plenty of room to still sneak up on people. The Outlaws open the season Tuesday with a home doubleheader against Merino, which is ranked No. 4 in 1A.
When asked what are this team’s strengths, Nighswonger said: “Yeah, I have been thinking about that, and I think that we will play really good defense, have a strong lineup from one through nine, and we have our pitchers. Plus, I think we have some speed so we can put some pressure on the other teams on the base paths.”
Despite the departure of Baucke, this could be one of Yuma’s deepest pitching staffs ever. There is senior Reyli Trejo, sophomores Brodie Kallweit, Jose Mario Ross, Chris Wario, and Chuey Rodriguez. Freshman Ty Weathers could be a contributor in his first high school season. Senior Brody Sheffield is back out for baseball after not playing the last two seasons following a promising freshman campaign. Kallweit enters the season on a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings from last season.
“We’ll be able to get a good look at everybody this week and figure out where they all fit in,” Nighswonger said.
Rodriguez anchors the defense at catcher. Vying for infield spots are junior Alex Pensado, senior Marvin Duarte, Trejo, Wario, Ross, Kallweit and Sheffield.
“They’re all fighting for spots,” Sheffield said. “They can play all the positions so we have some flexibility there.”
Sharing time in the outfield will be senior Tanner Himes, juniors Lennox Huwa and Christian Thompson, and sophomore Stevie Seward.
The coaches are working with sophomore Bryan Montes and Weathers to play catcher when Rodriguez is pitching.
There are 24 out for baseball, keeping Nighswonger and assistant coaches Kyle Sprouse and Jordan Sprouse plenty busy. Nighswonger said they are trying to load up on all of the JV games possible in order to get everyone playing time.