Season preview: Baseball looks to win El Camino with well-rounded roster

March 16, 2022 — by Howard Shu
Photo by Gloria Pan
Pictured here is senior outfielder Derek Hsu at bat.
New coach Jason Bugg brings deep experience to the Falcon program.

Head Coach: Jason Bugg

Last year’s record: 7-9

Recap: The team went 1-5 in their first six league games, but after continuously practicing in a two-week break between games, team chemistry and trust improved significantly and they went 6-1 in their next seven, eventually finishing fifth in the league. 

Key Matchups: Lynbrook, Fremont, Gunn, Sacred Heart Prep and Archbishop Riordan

Star Players: Senior catcher, pitcher and first baseman Derek Casini; senior pitcher and infielder Anthony Sherman; junior shortstop and pitcher Lucas Dennis; junior outfielder and catcher Max Timmons; and sophomore catcher, pitcher and third baseman Nathan Lee

Key losses to graduation: Catcher and outfielder Trevor Green; infielder Ryan Gilligan; infielder Karan Vazirani; and shortstop, second baseman and pitcher Philbert Fan

League: El Camino

Prognosis:

To start the preseason, the Falcons went 4-3. They are looking to dominate the league following their success in the second half of last season. 

Thus far, the team lost 6-1 against Sacred Heart Prep on March 12, won 16-6 against Mission at home on March 8, won 5-4 against Del Mar at home on March 5, lost 4-3 against Lincoln on March 3, lost 8-6 against Piedmont Hills at home on March 1, won 1-0 against Gunderson at home on Feb. 26 and won 22-1 against Galileo at home on Feb. 25.

In the game against Gunderson, senior outfielder/catcher Adrian Gecils won the game after laying out to catch a fly ball. Two weeks later in the game against Del Mar, sophomore pitcher and third baseman Nathan Lee hit a game-winning, walk-off triple. 

Junior shortstop and pitcher Lucas Dennis believes the team is well rounded with versatile players who trust each other.

“I think the guys are willing to do what it takes and play positions they may not normally play in order to win games,” Dennis said.

For the first two matches the team played, there were three players missing as they were wrapping up with winter sports, but the Falcons now have a full team available to play.

Senior catcher and first baseman Derek Casini said they have had good defense and pitching behind solid performances by Dennis, but believes the team still needs to get better staying out of their own heads.

“[Our performances] are kind of where we want them to be right now,” Casini said. “I imagine as the season keeps going on, we’re going to keep getting better.”

Casini said their CCS goals are more probable this year because the team moved down to the El Camino league from the De Anza league last year.

The team has also been bolstered by new head coach Jason Bugg, who is encouraging players to be more aggressive on the field with going for balls and base running, Casini said. Bugg played college baseball for San Jose State as well as minor league baseball on the affiliate team for the Atlanta Braves. He has had around 20 years of coaching experience with the San Jose State team and other high school teams, and is replacing former head coach Sean Hodson, who stepped down to finish up college and possibly pursue a different career path. 

“[Coach Bugg] has been pushing us to new limits that a lot of us probably didn’t think we could get to,” Casini said.

The team has also seen more participation from the freshman class this year than in previous years. Though all the freshmen are put on JV initially, Dennis is confident that many will get pulled up to varsity at some point in the season. Freshman infielder and pitcher Douglas Bettinger has already gone up to varsity.

Junior outfielder and catcher Max Timmons believes freshmen and sophomores, such as Bettinger, can be key players for varsity sometime in the near future.

“We have a lot of good underclassmen coming up and a lot of them have played baseball their entire lives,” Max said. “We don’t really have to teach them how to play; they’re just coming in and helping.”

Going into the season, one uncertainty is the deficit of pitchers: the Falcons have three players who pitch regularly, which include Dennis, Bettinger and sophomore pitcher Shane Timmons. This is three to four less than most other high school teams. Dennis said other players such as Casini and senior pitcher and outfielder Som Teymouri can also pitch, but it is not their main role on the team. 

Despite being short handed on pitchers, pitching has actually been one of the team’s strengths so far this season behind the performances of Dennis and Shane. 

“[Dennis] has been great at pitching so far. He’s pitched two games and I don’t think he’s given up a run yet, which was amazing to see,” Casini said. “When he’s on the mound, we know that our pitching is secure and we’re not going to give up that many runs.”

The team’s biggest concern is their three consecutive games from March 17 to March 19. Since starting pitchers need around a day’s rest, the Falcons might find themselves short on arms.

The team is also training two other players to be pitchers, which will help their depth.

“I think we’ll be able to make it work, but you can never have enough pitchers on a team,” Dennis said.

Even with a new coach and many new underclassmen players, Dennis believes the team morale and chemistry is similar to what it was in the second half of last season, especially since many of the team members hang out with each other outside of school and have been playing together since their freshman year.

“We had a really tight-knit group last year,” Dennis said. “We have some new faces this year, including our coach, so we’re still learning about each other, but I think [chemistry] is pretty good.”

Dennis, along with many other players on the team, have high hopes for a successful season.

“We could go really far. I think our immediate goal would be to win the league,” Dennis said. “Obviously, CCS is looming behind that, but we’ll take it one game at a time.”

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