A look back at last season doesn’t bring many happy memories to the Mingus baseball team. The Marauders went 6-16 overall a season ago and went 3-9 in 4A Grand Canyon play, good enough for last place in the region. Many teams may want to shed those memories. This year’s Mingus team, however, is hoping to build off of those memories by recognizing what went wrong and correcting the mistakes.
“It’s definitely a shock,” said senior Trevor Hoke, who pitches and plays left field for the Marauders. “But I think overall we learned what we did wrong and we’re trying to build on that this year. A big thing we didn’t have last year was family, and we’re doing better this year. We’re a lot closer. We talk to each other. We keep the game close and so far the team’s looking solid.”
That opinion was shared by sophomore Jan Alvarez.
“We’re looking at ‘we over me’ this year — last year was more like ‘me over the team,’” he said. “The way I see it, I want us to stick to the whole play as a unit thing. Come together. This group of guys has been playing together growing up. It’s a close team already. I’m just trying to keep it that way so we don’t repeat what happened.”
Hoke is one of a number of experienced players that Mingus has manning important positions. While he’s only a sophomore, Alvarez is a returning starter, having started for the Marauders as a freshman a season ago. Another key returner for Mingus is junior Trey Peters, who is the team’s No. 1 starting pitcher and plays first base on days when he’s not pitching.
Alvarez will share the left side of the infield with junior third baseman Elian Martinez. Sophomore Zack Harrison and junior Drew Meyer manned important positions for the Mingus football team in the fall as the starting quarterback and running back, respectively. They’ll do the same for the baseball team, with Harrison as the starting catcher and Meyer using his speed in center field.
“The expectation is obviously to compete,” coach Erick Quesada said. “Every year we hope for a region championship and from there go to a state championship. We’re young. We have a lot of depth, which is nice. We have a good amount of pitching this year, which is something we haven’t had in the past. So our hopes are really high this year.”
Of course, the Mingus team isn’t just looking to bounce back from a disappointing baseball season last year. A number of Mingus teams — including both the football and basketball teams — have struggled on the field during this school year.
With that in mind, Peters, who played on the boys basketball team, acknowledged that the baseball team feels a bit more pressure to have a good season and finish the school year on a more positive athletic note.
“I would say there’s pressure,” Peters said. “There’s talk around the school. Everyone wants us to do better. I just want to create a winning culture at our school now. It’s obviously not been that way for these past couple of seasons.”
Despite the element of redemption adding a degree of pressure, the overall feeling around the Marauders is an upbeat one.
“I’m very excited,” Quesada said. “For the past two years we haven’t had that team mentality. But I see a lot of togetherness with this team and it’s a lot of fun to watch. So I’m really excited for this year.”
The Marauders will play their home opener on Tuesday, March 3 when they host Seton Catholic Prep at 3:45 p.m.
