As we kick off our spring sports season here at Agua Fria, the Owls baseball team is looking sharp coming into the start of the season. With a new head coach and an impressive lineup, this season is already looking good.

The team this year seems to be a pretty tight group of guys who have played together for many years and even the new players seem to fit right in. There are nine seniors on the team this year, which includes team captains Nathan Dodson, Dylan Cervantez and Andrew Dominguez, who have been on varsity for multiple years now. 

With many seniors graduating this year it has been important for them to prepare the underclassman as well as the JV team as a whole for next year. Losing nine seniors leaves a lot of room on the bench for other players to be pulled up next year. 

Coach Don Spaniak is the new head coach so the boys have had some adjusting to do but have managed that just fine. New coaching styles and different perspectives have helped shape this year’s team so the team dynamic is obviously different than years prior. Assistant coaches include returning coach Carl McBee and Jim Caruthers. 

The team is excited to see how these coaches take charge of the program and have hope they will only get better this season. 

Along with a new coaching staff, Ms. Autumn Daniels, the athletic director at Agua Fria, has worked effortlessly to improve this program and this year the team got all new gear, including jerseys and helmets. The program also got a completely new field that looks amazing and makes our home field here at Agua Fria so much nicer than it was before. 

Taking a closer look at the team this year, we have starting pitchers Dylan Cervantez and Julian Chavez, who have done amazing so far this season. Both pitch up to 5 innings in a 7 inning game, which is pretty impressive. The team’s offense this year has been pretty solid. They have had few errors with fielding and have played pretty consistently while out there on the field. 

“Our pitching this year has been phenomenal,” Nathan said. “Pretty much everyone who pitched has done great, our starters especially.” 

So far this season the team’s hitting has been pretty good and they have been able to get on base a lot. As of right now one thing the team is working on is bringing runners in to score after they’re on base to score some more runs. As the season progresses it’ll be fun to see how they improve and can get even better from where they started. 

“The guys run the bases really good. They actually do a lot of things really well as a team,” Berta Rivera, one of the team managers, said. 

Rivera has done a lot to help out the team such as keeping stats and helping manage many other things. She loves being the manager and helps the guys out tremendously. 

As far as team dynamics go, these boys seem to be pretty close and have a good relationship with both each other and with the coaches. The team this year is lucky to have the “two Venezuelans,” Jose and Adrian, who are brothers playing together this year. 

“Everyone loves them…they always have the most energy on the team and are always excited to play,” Dodson said. “Probably two of our best players.” 

Having good team bonds make playing even more fun and make it easier to play well as a team. It’s just the beginning of the season for these guys, and as the season progresses, they can learn how each other play and use that knowledge to their advantage. 

As a team they do a lot to hang out, not just on the field but also off. Many of the guys go to the batting cages together and the team often goes out to eat after a game or practice. 

This season is going to be amazing for this group of guys and we are so excited to support them on the field. There is a lot to look forward to and the guys are just really excited to be able to actually play baseball this year.

“I’m just excited to play my senior year and see how everything goes,” Dodson said. “I feel like because we go to Agua Fria everyone thinks we’re bad but we have a pretty consistent team, pretty capable team and I think we might surprise some people.”  

This season is going to be a good one. Don’t forget to come out and support the Owls baseball team as they play again on Thursday, March 10, at 6 p.m. against North Canyon.