Team Sets Goal for Season Turnaround
Alex Hawes, Sports Editor
alex_hawes@csumb.edu
April 7, 2008
In yet another Division II debut in CSU Monterey Bay sports, the Otter baseball team is in the middle of a tough grind in their season. The team’s record currently stands at 7-22, with a conference record of 5-15.
“So far this season is a little disappointing, we had high expectations and I don’t believe that any of us are playing to the standards we set out as a team in the beginning of the season,” said Senior Business (BUS) major and pitcher Norman Hebert. “We have a lot of talent and I have no doubt in my mind that we can compete with any team in our conference.”
Senior pitcher and BUS major Luke Allendorf echoed Hebert, “We need to play a complete game. It seems like we can never really play great in all three phases of the game [defense, batting and pitching].”
Allendorf continued, “We need to go at least .500 the rest of the season and try to knock some other teams off and out of the playoff picture.”
Even though the chances of a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) playoff birth are dwindling, the players still believe they can turn the season around.
Hebert stated, “Our major goal this season was to make the CCAA playoffs. This is still a goal; we just need to get on a hot streak to pull it off. We definitely have it in ourselves as a team to make a run during this last half of the season. We have a positive attitude going into our next series, and we believe that we will succeed and have a complete turnaround.”
Allendorf expressed, “We still have a chance at making the playoffs, but we have to play exceptionally well down the stretch in order to do so.”
The team’s youth, both as an organization and on its roster is another important obstacle to note. Of the 36 players on the team, only five are seniors.
Nolan Labrucherie, a freshmen BUS major and third baseman for the team is focusing on the future. “We’re a young team. We’ve only been around a few years now, and what’s important is that we’re growing and getting more experience with each new season.” Labrucherie continued, “We have some great leaders and mentors on the team that are really helping us young guys out. [Justin] Rios and Thomas [Incaviglia] are just a couple of the guys who we can look up to and learn from.”
The team also plays a schedule with some of the best teams in the nation. Jayson Furia, a senior second baseman and BUS major at CSUMB said, “There are at least four teams in our conference that are ranked in the top 20 in the country. Our team is very close to being one of the elite teams in this league.”
“We’ve played some really tough teams especially at the beginning of the season, like [CSU] Stanislaus and Sonoma [State],” said Labrucherie.
Students can watch the Otters at a home game on April 4 against CSU San Bernadino at 2 P.M.