Fall Baseball
By Mark O’Connor
Typically the beginning of the fall college season means the end of the Major League Baseball season. However, that is not the case with the Taft College baseball team who just played their first fall exhibition of the 2016-2017 season.
“This is sort of like an audition. All the freshman need to work hard and give us a good first impression,” Coach Vince Maiocco told his team after they played the Bakersfield Dodgers.
On Saturday the Cougars took on the Dodgers from Bakersfield, a travel ball team composed of mostly high school players who are looking to be recruited by college coaches in a 14 inning exhibition game. The main purpose of this game was to get live game-like conditions for pitchers and hitters.
Every freshman on the roster for the Cougars got to see the field and had a chance to make that first impression. There are a combination of 19 freshman on this year’s team from various areas. Nevada, Utah, Canada, and even Puerto Rico are some of the places where this year’s rookies are from. Maiocco even recruited a local player from Taft High, Cameron Anderson, who is fighting for an outfield position.
One player that made a very good impression was Brandon Stevens (fr Las Vegas, Nevada) who had an outstanding day at the plate. He went 4-5 with 3 round trippers, a single, and a walk. “I was just having one of those days where the ball looked like a beach ball coming out of the pitcher’s hand,” he said after the game.
By the look of the freshman at Saturday’s game, it seems like the Cougar coaches have a lot of positive things to build on. The upcoming season for the TC baseball team is promising.