Arizona baseball trip paying dividends for Mustangs

A trip to Arizona can certainly provide memories for high school kids, but for the Manitou Springs baseball team, it serves as both a business trip and a fact-finding mission.

The Mustangs ventured down to the Phoenix area to get games against high-level opponents while still trying to establish expectations and a mindset for the season.

So far, coach Brandon DeMatto is liking what he sees out of his team. Despite giving up a late lead to Baker City, Ore., on Monday, March 21, the Mustangs (3-1-1 overall) have played some solid baseball in the warm Arizona sun.

“Arizona provided a great chance for us to evaluate how we measure up against quality teams that we wouldn’t normally get to see in our season,” DeMatto said.

“I felt we played well overall, but certainly found some areas we need to improve if we are going to make the run we are capable of.”

The games in Arizona follow a 3-0 start that the Mustangs got while playing in the St. Mary’s Invitational Tournament. Manitou took wins over Sand Creek on March 16 and Centauri and DSST: Montview on March 18.

Manitou won those three games by a combined score of 37-8 and showed how dynamic the entire lineup can be.

“We don’t really have a weak spot in our lineup,” second baseman Tate Christian said.

(The batting order) “turns over nice in our eight and nine-hole guys and we have a lot of good hitters. There’s no one that steps up to the plate with two outs and you think that we’re about to take the field.”

Manitou has four hitters who have at least 11 at-bats and are hitting .375 or better. Christian and Andrew Rhodes lead all hitters with .588 batting averages. Christian leads the team with nine RBIs and Raymond McCaskey already has three triples to his name.

The benefit of these early games in the season is that they have given DeMatto a solid idea of what he has to work with and how he can make adjustments as needed once league play gets rolling after spring break.

“When you have five games that you can evaluate different lineups and pitching rotations and all the factors that go into that, these five games have given us a good idea of how we can manipulate our lineup,” DeMatto said. “This is all to keep our lineup as strong as possible.”

So far, eight players have taken the mound for the Mustangs, which is significant at this point of the season. A team can never have too much pitching, so DeMatto’s willingness to develop the necessary arms should help this team in its quest to get back to the Class 3A state baseball tournament in June.

The Mustangs will go without a game through next week and get some much-needed rest. They return to the field on April 2 when they go to Evangelical Christian Academy.

They’ll play non-league games against Woodland Park and TCA before getting Tri-Peaks play underway with a double-header against Buena Vista on April 9.