Tuesday’s final score is one the MacDonald Condors baseball team would love to forget. What the team’s coaches hope the players remember, though, is that they aren’t physically incapable of beating teams like the Cupertino, who defeated them 16-2 on March 23, as their hard-hit rate was just about equal to that of the Pioneers.
It’s the mental side of the game that cost the Condors a chance at a victory in this one. Physical errors happen to even major leaguers, but it’s the limiting of those mental errors that really separates strong baseball players and teams from the run-of-the-mill squads.
“When it comes down to it, we have to secure the baseball, which is something we preach daily,” acknowledged Condors Head Coach Robert Maes. “We just have to clean it up on defense. Pitchers have to attack the zone; we don’t have the guy who is going to blow 80-plus miles per hour by you. We have to take advantage of routine plays when our pitchers pitch to contact, and that’s something that we are struggling with right now. But I think as time goes by, we are going to really start cleaning that up. We have a couple guys coming back from injuries, we’re a little bit banged up. Once we clean up our defense, I think we will be in a lot of ballgames.”
“Our team hasn’t been particularly amazing on the mental part of the game,” acknowledged first baseman Angel Garcia. “Physically, we can play this game, and I believe as long as we improve our mental part and get those routine plays down, we will be good.”
“We are definitely improving on offense; we are starting to see the ball better,” noted senior third baseman Pablo Guzman. “Defense, we might need a little bit more work; mentally, we can be better. Our pitchers are good. If they can find the zone, we should be fine.”
Guzman and Garcia provided the lone RBI hits for the Condors against the Pioneers, and Coach Maes was extremely complimentary of his two leaders.
“Angel is a great, silent leader. We can put him in the middle of our lineup. His improvement from last year to this year, the kid just grinds, man. He is in the cage all the time, getting in extra hacks. He is really working during batting practice,” chimed Maes on Garcia. “When we are working on things like hit and run, or getting guys over, he’s really trying to execute, and he leads with his play.
“Pablo is a senior that we can just rely on all the time,” added Maes on Guzman. “He brings the energy on defense. You see the way he lays out for baseballs, and on offense, he hits at the top of our order and gets things going. I feel really strong with Pablo at the leadoff spot and Angel at the cleanup spot. One through four, we’re not a bad ball club.”
The Condors will look to shake off the loss against the Pioneers and get back on track with their next matchup on Thursday, March 26, when the team hosts Milpitas.
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