Solano will rely heavily on freshmen
Outfield could be a strength for Falcons
FAIRFIELD >> Going into the season, Solano College head baseball coach Scott Stover normally has a blueprint for how his starting lineup and pitching staff will look.
The Falcons, however, are not as ready as the coach would like as the season opener fell on Friday at Diablo Valley College. Solano is the dreaded WIP — a work in progress.
“We’re behind. This is probably as ill-prepared we’ve been,” Stover said Thursday afternoon. “We haven’t had the facility. The maintenance department didn’t get the field ready like they are supposed to so we’ve been using a turf field in Vallejo. We are so far behind right now. We’l have to just keep getting our feet wet in these preseason games and take our licks here and there. Hopefully we can just keep getting better that way.”
Solano’s roster will feature 15 freshmen as the Falcons lost stars like Isaiah Verrett, Nik Dodson, Cameron Michael, Bryce Pryblinski and Kyle Krebs to name a few.
“This is a different group of kids. Obviously we’re a little younger,” Stover said. “We’re a little smaller too, but we have Wellington (Balsley) back. He had to take a year off but he’s like a returner to me. Connor Caporale is back for his third year. He sat last year out. Nick Roach is one of the biggest losses. He had knee surgery, but we’ll have him back next year.”
The outfield should be one of the bright spots for the Falcons
as Balsley starts in center and Brandon Herter (Napa High) in right field.
“I think we’re going to be a scrappy team this year,” Balsley said. “We’re looking forward to getting out there and showing people what we can do.”
Herter said one of the biggest challenges will be getting the freshmen caught up to college ball. He said he’s hoping that year as a freshman will help him excel more as a sophomore.
“I think my mental approach and my approach to the game improved,” he said. “I’m going to try and slow everything down. Everything came at me kind of fast last year.”
The pitching staff is led by sophomore Edgar AquiCruz (Rodriguez High), redshirt freshman Jesse Rodriguez (Vallejo High) freshman Anthony Callen (Vacaville) and Caporale (Dixon). They’ll be throwing to sophomore catcher Austin Shadbolt (Livermore High).
In the infield, freshmen Leon Ancheta-Garcia (Rodriguez) and Herbie Lane (Benicia) will see time at first base, sophomores Matthew Hansen (Delta) and George Hernandez will see time at second, sophomore Andrew Flores and freshmen Nathan Jessell (Napa) will play shortstop and freshman Eli De Guzman will play third. Freshman Jason Pridy (Napa) will see time in the infield and the outfield.
Pridy and freshman Dmitri McLen (Benicia) will be among the players seeing time in left field.
“We’re not going to use nine guys,” Stover said. “We’ll probably be using 12 to 15 per game.”
The bullpen isn’t set but Stover plans to use Petey Regalado (Vanden) in one of the roles. Davis Dunkley, a hard-throwing pitcher from Las Vegas, could see some time in late-inning situations as could converted catcher Eddie Vokes.
“Again, it’s tough to figure out those roles since we didn’t have a field,” Stover said. “We haven’t been able to do inter-squad and stuff like that. That’s what we’re going to using January and February for.”
Solano’s Bay Valley Conference slate doesn’t begin until March 10 against Laney. A year ago, Los Medanos won the league with Marin and Laney finishing second and third, respectively.
“I haven’t got a chance to look at rosters yet but Marin was pretty split between freshmen and sophomores and LMC was pretty sophomore heavy, so they might have some new guys. It was weird last year. We got swept by LMC for the first time, but we swept Marin and knocked them out of first place. Everybody was beating everybody. I think you’ll see a little more of that this year too.”