If anything is going to show ultimate success on the diamond, The Dalles baseball senior Boston Bate said it all starts with camaraderie in the locker room and a brotherhood on the field.
From there, talent and execution and hopefully several wins will take care of itself and help vault the Riverhawks to a postseason berth.
“I have been playing with a lot of these guys since little league. We know each other and what we all bring to the team,” Bate said. “We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but the main thing is playing for each other. When you can do that, there is no denying how far you can go.”
Last season, the Riverhawks won 10 games, but lost 5-3 to Hood River Valley on the final day of the season to end in a third-place tie with Hermiston in the Columbia River Conference standings.
TD lost a postseason bid on a coin flip, so any chance to make a deep run was short-circuited at that point.
That has made Bate and the rest of the Riverhawks hungrier to make sure their fate is not sealed on mathematical probabilities.
“We felt we had much more season left to be honest. We will never know though how far we could have gone,” Bate said. “We are not worried about that this year. We need to go out every day and take care of our business. If we do that, we control our own destiny and we will see how far we can go from there.”
Last season, TD’s pitching staff gave up 198 runs, but with a returning staff led by right-handed ace Colton Walker, head coach J.R. Runyon has depth at the position to give him options for the right matchup.
Along with Walker, Colin Noonan, Bate, Spencer Honald, Johnny Miller, William Justesen, Tyler Westin, Daniel Peters and Bailey Ortega make up the rest of the staff.
Although right-handed heavy, the Hawks have a variation of styles, ranging from speed, movement, accuracy and control that can give them an edge.
Coaches Chris Loyd and David Ladouceur have been working on the pitchers with hopes to cut down on the earned run average.
Handling the staff from the catching position will be senior Kellen Mathisen, an honorable mention pick last season.
“I think our pitchers are going to do great. From what I have seen, they have grown so much from last year and that is exciting to see,” Mathisen said. “We have Bubba (Walker) at the top, but we have so many other guys who can be our ace. When you have that kind of depth, it can be scary. We just have to be consistent, throw strikes and let the fielder’s make the plays.”
Last season, the Riverhawks scored five runs or more nine times in 25 games, but one of the biggest differences is the lack of a big slugger.
The teams has speed and an ability to spray the ball in the gaps, so it does change things up tactically.
Dawson Hoffman, Arellano, Cash Mathewson, Miller, Peters, Honald and Noonan bring some speed and hitting ability to the table, and Walker, Ortega, Matt Strizich, Mathisen, Bate, Justesen, Dylan DesRochers and Tyler Westin represent the big boppers in the lineup.
Working with hitting coach Doug Sawyer has already paid off in cage times and batting practices.
Their long-term goal in the batter’s box is to make life difficult for opposing pitchers, so strategy is key.
“We need to work the counts, play small ball and be good at situational hitting,” Mathisen said. “The most important thing is to do what we can to score runs. If it is a home run, that’s great, but we need to bunt, steal, hit and run, hit it to the gaps, do whatever we can to score runs and give ourselves a chance to win. If we can score runs and relax our pitchers, we can do very well.”
Entering his 10th season, Runyon, a two-time Coach of the Year winner, sees plenty of potential within his group overall.
There are 15 players on the varsity roster and having a large number of available athletes provides some healthy competition.
It also keeps everyone at an optimum level through the course of the season.
“We want players here who make each other better. I have seen these guys cheer for each other and show support. As a coach, that is nice to see from a group this early in the season,” Runyon said. “Playing together and being unified will take many teams a long way. If we can stick with that mentality, we will be in good shape.”
League play is expected to be a day-to-day challenge with the likes of defending 5A state champion Hood River Valley, Pendleton and Hermiston all fighting for the three playoff spots.
“I am excited to see how we will do. We have a lot of potential and we have a bunch of kids who want to come in and compete every day,” Runyon said. “I think if we can play up to our abilities, we have just as good of a chance as anyone to do some damage.”
TD starts the season on the road at 5 p.m. Monday at 6A Glencoe.
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