Show Are Our Baseball Players World Contenders y j Do the Bruin boys have what it takes this year yearBy By Rachel Warner Staff Writer t to Q o 1 Do the Bruin Boys have what it takes to make it to the World Series this year The team and the Coaches think so But what makes them so sure It might stem from the fact they won the SWAG tournament where they went up against the top college team in the nation-Dixie nation In the tournament the Bruins had to play each team four times They played Dixie the first game and beat them One particular game might stick out in peoples people's minds where Nick Ballard who plays second base came up to bat There was a guy guyon guyon guyon on second and he got a base hit to score the winning run Nick came through with a clutch dutch catch to put the Bruins up by one which eventually was the deciding deciding deciding ing run in the game said Shawn Ballard a Bruin baseball fan There was a double elimination tournament where Dixie was allowed to come through the losers loser's bracket and play the championship They had to beat twice in order to win Dixie unfortunately won the first game but creamed them the second winning the tournament tournament tournament ment and moving on to play the team eam from om Central Arizona The season ended with a fourteen fourteen fourteen four four- teen innings game where Central Arizona beat by one run nm A very valiant effort by which in turn got the word out about the team and how good they really were When the season starts in February they will wiH play in warmer wanner places like Arizona and California For now its it's like a spring season where they practice playing teams teams' like CU and in order to get them ready for the upcoming season Because of the tournament tournament tournament ment many are seeking out Nick Ballard in hopes to get to know the man behind the bat Nick has been playing baseball since he He currently current current- was years seven ly is attending where he is working on his Associates of Business He plans on transferring transferring transferring transfer transfer- ring up to the University of Utah as a junior School and baseball are his main priority right now He wasn't able to play at the start of last season due to an injured rotator cuff Its It's since partially healed but because his shoulder is almost dead this might be his last season He said if he gets a scholarship he is going to do everything he can do doto doto doto to get it fixed When it comes to competition we all aH know that every school has hasa a rivalry with another so when asked what school Ballard thought might be ours he comments comments comments com com- ments Probably with Dixie because of last year and they know that now we are ing Games are 2 to 1 and 1 to nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing so the competition is really good Dixie and are the top teams at this time Before last year never came close to beating Dixie because they were always the top team and winning every every- thing When asked what Nick is looking looking looking look look- ing forward to this season he stated stated stated stat stat- ed Our goal is to make it to the World Series We figure we can cando cando cando do that by what we did last year and also we have a lot better team this year Chad Martel a rookie playing right and outfield expresses his enthusiasm when asked about the upcoming season season season sea sea- son saying Im looking for for- ward to an amazing team great talent and extreme dedication Last year nine freshmen started without any ence This year nine sophomores sophomores sophomores soph soph- returned It makes us that much better because we have experience and a alot alot alot lot of guys coming back that know how to win We have a lot of depth in our pitching this season Im I'm looking forward to winning the again and moving moving moving ing on to the World Series said Joey Gerrard who pitches for Behind every great team theres there's a great coach Jared Bateman aka a.k.a. Beaner Beaver a second year returning play play- er exclaimed We have an amazing amazing amazing ing coach that has turned our program program program pro pro- gram around We definitely love our coaches especially Coach Nelson he knows what's up After hearing how great the Coaches were one can imagine the pressure on the Bruin baseball baseball base base- ball baH team Coach Nelson had many great things to say about his up and coming team Hes He's worked with the boys for one year comming from Dixie College ironically because our school has a nice facility and they are paying him more He said The guys are great kids but they have a lot to learn about the game Nelson explains that is required to play with wood bats vs aluminum for two reasons the first one being it makes the X- X game harder and better to coach and second it brings out what you youcan can do as a coach more It makes them have to learn how to play the game which professional scouts prefer There are a lot of hitters who can swing aluminum but not wood so it takes the guesswork out of it for the scouts As far as winning baseball is a tough sport and it can go either way We are good enough and we will wiH be there in the end competing competing competing com com- for it Now whether you win or lose it takes some breaks but we will be there in the end If we win the I firmly believe we will also vin the regional against the Arizona champion C f s r 4 t t j f yr f s o wn J Jr r r yi y tj Joey Gerrard Chad Jared Bateman Nick Ballard 1 to r Photo by David Finch |