Fresh, new faces

CLOVIS — The Clovis baseball team that will take the Bell Park field against Lubbock-Coronado Tuesday night won’t much resemble the one that walked off the University of New Mexico’s Santa Ana Star Field more than nine months ago.

The 2018 Wildcat team that tied a school record with 23 wins and reached the state 6A quarterfinals was chock full of seniors. The 2019 version, not so much.

Senior middle infielder Anthony Gonzales is the lone returnee from the team that fell to Carlsbad in the 6A quarters last May 10.

But attrition is part of high school sports and Clovis’ baseball program will forge ahead into a new season. Fifth-year head coach Richard Cruce has already seen development since practices began Feb. 4.

“We’ve gotten a lot better in the last three weeks,” Cruce said at Thursday afternoon’s practice. “The kids are growing and we’re just trying to get better every day right now.”

“We’ve come a long way from the beginning,” Gonzales said while taking a short break from Thursday’s practice. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we’re better than we were when we first started.”

Thursday’s practice featured country music twanging about ‘a man with a big cigar’, just five days before the Wildcats were scheduled to begin facing men with big fastballs, big curves, big bats. It will be a season of big fastballs, big curves and big bats, yet the ’Cats remain optimistic.

“Any time you’ve got a young group, it’s always a fun challenge,” Cruce said. “You’ve got to rebuild the chemistry ... and I think we’ve got a good core to build the chemistry.”

A lot of what happens on and off the field will understandably revolve around Gonzales.

“He’s going to have to kind of lead by example,” Cruce said, “and make plays when plays come his way.”

“It’s different,” Gonzales said. “You’ve got to help pick up your teammates, make sure everything’s going right. Make sure we stay on track.”

They will try staying on track with a team of mostly juniors and sophomores. As for which junior or sophomore fills which position, that’s something Cruce isn’t firm on just yet.

“I think the lineup’s going to be a work in progress for a while,” he said. “There are so many moving parts to it. A lot of kids play a lot of different positions, so it’s going to move around quite a bit.”

Fundamentals, especially early, will be key. “We’re going to have to pitch and play good defense,” Cruce said. “We just don’t have a lot of varsity experience. And hopefully at district time, the bats will come around.”

With 12 seniors dotting last year’s roster, Cruce had to coach and manage more than anything, do some inspiring here or there. This year’s team comprised mainly of last year’s jayvee players will need a bit more.

“It takes a little while with a group this young,” Cruce said. “You’ve got to go back to teaching everything.”

With that youth, however, comes players eager to learn.

“Yeah, a lot of enthusiasm,” Cruce said. “We talk about it all the time. There’s a job to be won every day, so these kids come to work to try to win a spot on game day.”

And as the young Wildcats wend their way through the season, a season playing many opponents that will have more experience than them, they will learn from the adversity they’re facing, from the speed of the pitches, the potency of the bats. And as time progresses, they don’t expect to be the same team that took the Bell Park field on Feb. 26.

“The expectation is to be playing our best ball in late March and throughout April,” Cruce said. “And I think you’ll see good growth in these guys.”

Here come the Mustangs

Tuesday’s season opener against Coronado at Bell Park (5 p.m.) will give the Wildcats a chance to see just how much they’ve evolved since beginning practice.

They’ll be playing a team with not only more varsity experience, but more 2019 season experience.

“They’re going to come in here with six games under their belts,” Cruce said.

And the Mustangs will come in with a quality program, too.

“Coach (Gary) Hix does a great job with his kids year in and year out,” Cruce said. “So they’re going to be a tough task for anybody.”

“It’s going to be a difficult game,” Gonzales said, “because they’re a pretty good team from Texas. We’re just going to have to play the game right and do what we can.”

Schedule

February — 26, Coronado (Tx.), 5 p.m.; 28, vs. Artesia at Hobbs Invitational, 3 p.m.

March — 1, vs. Cleveland at Hobbs Invitational, 3 p.m.; 2 — vs. Onate at Hobbs Invitational, 1 p.m.; 7, vs. Cleveland at Cleveland Tournament, 4:30 p.m.; 8, vs. Belen at Cleveland Tournament, 12:30 p.m.; 9, at Cleveland Tournament, TBA; 14, Alamogordo at Goddard Invitational, 10 a.m.; 15, at Goddard Invitational, TBA; 16, at Goddard Invitational, TBA; 19, Portales, 5 p.m.; 21-23, Sal Puentes Invitational, TBA; 26, Lovington, 5 p.m.

April — 2, at Lovington, 5 p.m.; 12, at Portales, 5 p.m.; 16, Carlsbad, 5 p.m.; 18, at Carlsbad (2), 5 p.m., 7 p.m.; 25, Hobbs, 5 p.m.; 26, at Hobbs (2), 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

May — 2, at Roswell, 5 p.m.; 3, Roswell (2), 5 p.m., 7 p.m.