By BRIAN ARGABRIGHT
The 830 Times
Armed with 13 seniors, the Del Rio High School varsity baseball team has high hopes for success in District 30-6A and a return to the playoffs.
The program’s freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors were introduced Jan. 19 at the inaugural Rams Baseball Media Day held at the Mayfield Baseball Club off Kings Way. The overall message to the team was simple – hard work and teamwork are the biggest keys to a successful baseball season.
It was a message passed on to the team by a bevy of guest speakers including Mayor Al Arreola, San Felipe Del Rio CISD Board Member Emilio Galindo, the Rams coaching staff and Jack Mayfield, owner of the Mayfield Baseball Club, former four-time all-district honoree for the Rams and former Major League Baseball player who now competes for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League.
The Rams struggled in district play last year, winning just one game in conference, while missing out on the postseason. That stretched the Rams’ streak of failing to make the playoffs to nine years. Del Rio last made the postseason in 2016 under then-head coach Nick Mendez.
The team’s struggles have been a sort of bullseye for longtime fans who see the coaching staff as the Rams biggest struggle, but the complaints have also reached the ears of the players. It’s a dilemma that some of the team’s leaders look at just one more obstacle the Rams have to overcome to once again taste success.
Tres McCrea, the team’s starting catcher and a former all-district selection, explained that he uses that negativity as an opportunity to showcase why those who preach doom about the program should carry a positive attitude instead.
“I like to say when somebody asks me that question … I’ve had it where people have talked, not bad about me, but have been negative and saying tough things. When you bring your skills to the field and apply it, it helps turn a negative into a positive,” McRea explained.
The seniors also spoke about the importance of staying active during the offseason, whether it be individual workouts or through travel ballclubs.
“It’s very important to stay active during the offseason,” senior Tyler Madera said. “If the last time you swung a bat was last high school season and now you wanna start swinging a bat again this high school season and you didn’t swing a bat the whole in between you’re going to be very rusty and its gonna be hard to get back into your natural swing and you’re probably going to lose a lot of your mechanics.”
The team kicks off the season with its annual alumni game Saturday at The Bank & Trust Ram Field at noon. They’ll then have four scrimmages between Feb. 3 and Feb. 13, including Eagle Pass CC Winn here Feb. 7 and Fort Stockton here Feb. 13, before officially opening the regular season Feb. 16 at home against Uvalde at 7 p.m. It’s Del Rio’s only home game until the district schedule starts and the Rams host Laredo LBJ March 13.
While this is the last run for much of the team, many of the players, including senior Mason Hanselman, are ready to apply what the team’s coaches have been emphasizing since the players’ journeys with the Rams began.
“The coaches have taught us how to be better men, which is not only the key to performing well in baseball but also in life. They taught us how to be accountable, remain focused and even when things get hard to never give up,” Hanselman said.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
