The Sunny Hills Lancers baseball team had a rough 2016 season, but with a new season comes the opportunity for improvement.
Though The Lancers went 10-19-1 last season and finished last in Freeway League play with a 3-12 record, manager Arlie Kearney has the team aiming for the postseason.
“Our goal is to get into playoffs and we want to find a way to compete well in league,” said the fourth-year manager.
Though hopeful about Sunny Hills ability to finish high in league, Kearney knows league play will be no walk in the park.
“Leagues gonna be really tough, there’s a lot of good teams in their, theirs a lot of good pitchers in their,” said the Lancers manager, and added that “It’s anybody’s game in league so we’re just hoping we can find a way to get into playoffs.”
A challenging Freeway League schedule awaits the Lancers, but they are off to a strong start in non-league play.
Indicative of improvement, the Lancers are off to a 7-1 start this season, including an opening day shutout against Morro Bay (1-5).
Pitching has helped the Lancers early success and Kearney believes it is one of the team’s biggest areas of improvement.
“Last year we struggled a little bit on the mound from time to time and this year so far we’ve been really consistent in our pitching, we done a really nice job there, and it’s kept us in games,” said Kearney
Jaewoo Park, a big part of the Lancers pitching and hitting efforts last season, is a player whose production may be a big factor in how successful the Lancers season will be.
“Park is an outstanding player. He’s got a lot of pop in his bat, he does a really nice job at the plate,” said the Sunny Hills manager about about the junior, who had 27 hits and struck out 35 batters last season, and added that “He’s really done well on the mound, he’s composed, he throws a lot of strikes, and he competes really hard in every at bat and every pitch.”
Luis Garza, who as a freshman had 20 hits and 14 RBI’s, could be another player who leads the Lancers to a high Freeway League finish.
“He’s being hitting the ball well so far [and] he’s been pitching pretty well as well,” Kearney said about the now sophomores production this season.
Though certain players may stand out for the Lancers this season, Kearney emphasized that the team as whole as the key to their strong start.
“The guys have really bonded together with each other, they believe in each other and they’re out here playing,” selflessly “day in and day out and it really shows in our play.”
Sunny Hills starts Freeway League play next Friday at home against Fullerton.