The Carbon High School baseball team was served a rough loss in its season opener on Tuesday, falling to Springville High School 16-1. However, as just the Dinos’ second day outside this season, head coach Jeff Cisneros called the game a “glorified practice.”
“I told them before the game this is a glorified practice, we just have uniforms on today and that’s all it is and that’s how I approach it early in the season,” said Cisneros. “This shows us what we need to work on. We obviously knew we have a lot of things, we found out a few more things of where we’re at and that’s fine. It’s about how we come to practice [Wednesday], what we do off of what we learned today and how we approach it.”
Carbon held Springville to just three runs through the first two innings of the game, despite some struggles on the mound. However, Springville got into a groove in the third inning, scoring six runs, then scored one in the fourth and six more in the fifth. The Dinos managed just two hits in the five-inning game and plated their only run of the game in the first inning, with senior Chase Morgan scoring on a groundout by senior Gavin Robinett.
“Not what I wanted, obviously 16-1, but it showed us a lot of things and that might mean more than getting beat 2-1 and not knowing if we’re really that good or not that good,” said Cisneros.
Last season’s success, which included making it into the 3A State semifinals, was in large part due to a strong senior class. The starting rotation, as well as much of the power at the plate, came from players who graduated last spring, leaving gaps for Cisneros to fill this season.
“It’s always hard to fill gaps when you have a talented group and last year’s group was talented,” said Cisneros. “This year’s group, though, can be just as talented. We may not have one or two big, big studs on our team, but I have seven seniors and I have 31 other guys who I expect to step up and fill those shoes, and when you work as a team and you can fill those shoes as a group, I think you can be better than any individual was.”
Cisneros has nailed down two of his starters for the season, Robinett and junior Zac Bradley, who both pitched in Tuesday’s loss, but is still looking for a third. However, with a pitch count rule implemented this season, it’s going to be tougher come times like the state tournament, when teams play multiple games in just a few days.
The rule requires players to take one day of rest for 36-60 pitches thrown, two days of rest for 61-85 pitches thrown and three days of rest for 86-110 pitches thrown. A pitcher may not throw more than 110 pitches.
“That’s going to change the way a lot of things happen,” Cisneros explained. “[You’re] probably going to have a lot of people wondering why you pulled a guy out when you did. Well, because, if he throws one more pitch, he has to have three days rest or something and you might have a game in two days. It’s going to change things a little bit, I think it’s all good because you’re saving arms. It’s a good thing whenever it’s a safety thing, but it’s going to take a little bit of a learning curve to get used to it, too.”
On the offensive side, Cisneros said that the Dinos do not have much of the power that they had last year, and will be relying on more of a small-ball game than hitting home runs.
“You’re going to see us do a lot more bunting and a lot more small-ball so to speak, because we don’t have a lot of guys, I don’t think, that are going to go out and hit home runs,” said Cisneros. “But what I do want us to do is I want us to be good bunters, I want us to be good contact hitters.”
The Dinos will travel to play Dixie High School at home on Thursday, a tough match-up since the team has been playing outside for months, while the Dinos have been stuck inside because of inclement weather. However, the Dinos still have their eyes on a Region 12 Championship at the end of the season, and look to be contenders in the 3A State Tournament come May.
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