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Show i Braves, Vikings ready for 1991 season Editor's note: thb ta lh first In a two-part two-part preview of south Dtris high school baseball. See Sa turds y i edition of the Clipper for previews of Davis and Woods Cross 1991 baseball squads and a full recap of this week's preseason action. i By G.BRETT HART Sports Editor VIEWMONTVIKINGS BOUNTIFUL The Vikings return as the reigning Region 1 champions ranked number five in the state a ranking subject to change in light of Viewmont's defeat of number four ranked Orem a week ago. At any rate, the Vikes, under the direction of coach Wade Bender, have anything but a yellow brick road ahead of them. Bender coached the Vikings for over 16 years. After coaching from 1970-80, he retired for five years but returned to the coaching ranks as his own sons donned Viewmont baseball uniforms. Bender has taken the Vikings to state championship duels five times over the years, but resting on last year's success is the last thing the Vikes can expect to do this year, said Bender. "We should have a strong team this year Bender explained. "We won the region last year with a 10-2 record and lost to Taylorsville and Granger in the state tournament. "Most of the kids are back, and they're coming along. "I think our major obstacle this season will be not getting too cocky. We've set our goals as a team. We want to get back to the state tournament and play better than we did last year. "Of course we also want to win the region again. If we don't, I'U be very disappointed," Bender said. "The kids want to go all the way. They've got the material to do it. They work hard, and they know what I want them to do. This is a great, close-knit bunch of kids. This year's captains are Jason Hynek, Scott Lalli and Eric Bright. After defeating Orem, the Vikes took a 17-6 beating at the hands of a talented Reams High squad Thursday Thurs-day and returned to take on Skyline at home Friday. Skyline turned an early 3-3 tie with the Viewmont Vikings into a 14-6 drubbing. But in spite of the loss, Bender said he saw a lot of improvement over his team's performance per-formance the day before against ' Keams. "We made only one error against Skyline. They're a good ball club; they hit the ball well. We play pret ty good defense, they just hit the ball where we weren't' The Vikes round out their short, preseason schedule this week against Box Elder and Brighton. Both games are at home. Bender said he plans to play his j.v. squad against Box Elder and the varsity against Brighton. "After playing so many games last week, it will be good to have some time to work on fundamentals," fundamen-tals," Bender explained. SEE BASEBALL ON A-13 I Baseball CONTINUED FROM A-12 "We need to work on conditioning condition-ing and our defense at first and third, which we haven't had a chance to work on yet. "We just need to get back to basics. It's never-ending." The Vikings begin region play next week. Bender admits that the lack of preparation time is short, to say the least. "Especially for the basketball players," Bender added "We've got kids like Andy Jensen and Brad Rencher who haven't had much time to get ready. "Jason Hynek, however, is tearing tear-ing things up. He's played very well so far this season." BOUNTIFUL BRAVES Under the direction of Phil Olson, who has been at the helm of Bountiful baseball for 22 years, the Braves have played for the state championship five times in the last 10 years. The last time they won it was in 1988. Last year, the Braves fell victim to Springville in the playoffs and took second in Region 6 action to Murray a team they later punished 12-2 in the playoffs. The Braves finished 1 1-3 in region last year. If that doesn't sound impressive enough, Bountiful only lost two of its top starters to graduation and returns three all-staters in pitcher John Harmer, second baseman Brad Beck and short stop Aaron Roderick. The Braves also return last season's all-region recipients Mark Schaffer, third base, and Scott Erickson at center field. Pitching will definitely be an asset Bountiful can bank on. Behind Harmer waits Blake Dawson, who was 7-2 last year, and Eric Bowen, a pitcher who came to Bountiful this year from California. So what challenges can possibly await a team with as much depth as Bountiful has this season? "Our challenge this year will be hitting the ball. We're better offensively this year, but it takes practice and a lot of hard work," Olson said. "Of course, our biggest asset will be pitching and defense. We're deeper at pitcher and on defense than we have been. "This is a good team. They've played together for a long time." Bountiful's ranks are solid throughout with Josh Bottom, Joe Stansfield and Justin Jensen rounding roun-ding out the outfield. Olson predicts that Region 6 will be one of the toughest leagues in the state this season. "We're in a good league," Olson explained. "In fact, I think this league is tougher in baseball than it is in any sport. "Tooele may be the team to beat this season. They've got two fine pitchers in Lee and Garcia. Mike Gurr is also a fine pitcher at Woods Cross as is Wilson at West, so this league will be tough throughout. Bountiful begins its season today against Timpview. "We have one goal right now," l - Olson said. "That's beat Timpview. 1 "We just take the season one j game at a time and don't set a lot of ) long-term goals because sometimes j if you don't reach them, you quit." The Braves will return to action j Wednesday against American Fork. Both games are at home and begin j at 3:30 p.m. ; Taking over captain duties for the j Braves this season will be Mark ; Schaffer, Scott Erickson and Aaron : Roderick. I In other baseball action Friday, i the Davis Darts extended their ! preseason record to 3-1 with a 12-7 romp over the Highland Rams. ! The key to Friday's win was im- j proved offensive power Davis j coach Val Cullimore said. "We hit better than we had," ! Cullimore explained. "But it was j the first game we didn't play real t well defensively. ! "Highland played well early. We pretty well shut them down, but we j let down one inning and they scored I five runs. "Any time the other team is hit- J ting and you're making defensive errors, they're going to score some runs," Cullimore added. i The Darts logged 13 hits in J Friday's preseason matchup, in- j eluding doubles by Jason Bush, Nate Richardson and Troy Osborn. i Junior pitcher Ryan Spraque won j his second game pitching the first four innings against the Rams and ' giving up only two hits.' ' The Darts return to their home j field Thursday against Mountain Crest at 3:30 p.m. i I |