The 2019 baseball season has begun, and the players and coaches have high expectations in a program that values excellence.

Coming off a 6-12 season, the baseball team has higher expectations for the 2019 season, and they have been putting in the work in the off season to make those goals a reality. The team has been working on fundamentals, form, and limiting their amount of errors in games throughout the course of the off season. The team has big goals, and are looking to make some noise in the 4A Western Slope rankings.

“There are a lot of ways to measure success, to start with we want to improve from last season,” says Head Coach Bret Moyer. “I think this season will be a failure if we don’t make the playoffs. Everything beyond that is a success, in which there are also small team goals along the way as well.”

To achieve these goals, not only has the baseball team been working in the off season, but Coach Moyer is more confident coming into his second year as the head baseball coach due to his experience and training.

“I’ve been trying to go to some clinics and checking some things out on YouTube and looking for new drills,” says Moyer. “Baseball can be a monotonous sport where you’re doing the same drills day in and day out, which I’ve been trying to vary that out so that the boys stay interested. As for getting my points across, we have a new staff this year, which we’ve all been working together and putting things on paper. We put together a folder for everyone on whether it’s mental toughness, what to do in certain situations, and more that they can study and improve on.”

Being the start of a new season, players are stepping up as leaders in their roles as captains, to help guide the team throughout the season.

Bailey Beckum ‘19 will be a captain this season. For him, being a captain means to “lead by example and show the underclassmen what it’s like to be a leader and a good member of Eagle Valley Baseball.”

Since the players and Coach Moyer have been together for four years now, they have higher expectations of each other, and they’ve developed a strong team community.

“These boys get along really well,” says Coach Moyer. “They’ve been playing summer ball with each other the past few years, and that bond is great. When we get a little off task sometimes, we have those guys on the team that put us right back on track which is what a family needs. We have a good balance of both.”

Players have had time to reflect on their high school baseball careers and have taken what they’ve learned and translated it to this season.

“Throughout the past four years of high school baseball, I’ve really progressed mentally, and I’m a lot more confident in what I can do for this team,” says pitcher Adam Vasquez ‘19.

Although the team is eager to get started, for seniors it will be bittersweet.

“It’s crazy,” says Lee Bullock ‘19, “all the seniors have been playing baseball together for 12 years, so it’s crazy that this is our last year together.”