That dream of another regional title will begin this weekend when the Cougars travel to Kansas to face Seward County Community College on Friday, Pratt Community College on Saturday and Barton County Community College on Sunday.
WNCC coach Mike Jones said the focus of this weekend is just to play some baseball.
"Right now the main focus is let's just get on the field, and get ourselves accustomed to the speed of the game because the college game is so much faster than the high school game," Jones said. "It will be important for us to get out there and get involved. We are going down into Kansas where they had a lot of nice weather. They are going to be more prepared then we will."
The pitching rotation for this weekend will see sophomore Victor Rubio of Miami and freshman Sam Diaz of Florida City, Fla., throwing on Friday. Saturday's starters will find Enrique Gonzales, a freshman from Miami, and Ben Dorn, a freshman from Calhan, Colo., against Pratt. Sunday's starters will include Armani Gonzalez, a freshman from Miami, and David Castle, a freshman from Guernsey, Wyo., against Barton County.
Jones is excited with the young arms that will throw for the Cougars this season.
"The pitching looks pretty good," he said. "[Besides the starters], we also have two left-handers [Gustavo Sanchez, a sophomore from Canabobo, Venezuela, and Rodil Marintez, a freshman from San Pedro Sula, Honduras] coming out of the bullpen in middle relief. We also have Marco Jiminez, a sophomore from Miami, and Josh Parker, a freshman from Canberra, Australia, to close. Right now we have a plan for this weekend; we will see how it works out."
The Cougars definitely need the early series of games to get experience under this year's squad, which features a roster of 23 freshmen and only seven sophomores. Jones, however, is excited with the talent level of his young squad.
"We are a very young ball club and the guys are excited to get things started," he said. "Right now, we are young with quite a few freshmen that will be in our starting line-up. We are going to rely on the few sophomores that we have to provide the leadership early in the season."
The Cougars youth will really be seen with the position players. The only sophomore among the infielders is Aurelio Monteagudo, from Miami. Monteagudo, who played right field a year ago, will see some time at first base this year.
The other infielders are all newcomers to the Cougar program. Jones said Alex Arias, a freshman from Miami, is slated to start at third base; Parker at shortstop, Oscar Rodriquez, a freshman from Miami, at second base; and Elvis Garcia and Monteagudo sharing time at first base. Trace Marsden, a freshman from Scottsbluff who played for the WESTCO Zephyrs, will see time at either third base, short stop or second base.
"We have nice depth on the infield," Jones said. "We have very athletic guys that can play multiple positions. Then again, it is all freshmen except for Aurelio at first base."
The outfield positions will be made up of Anthony Paniagua, a transfer sophomore from Miami, in left field; Jared Baros, a freshman from Erie, Colo., in center field; and Ronald Miller, a freshman from Miami, in right field. Brady Sanchez, a freshman from Sedgewick, Colo., who played for the Buckley Bombers out of Chappell, can play all three positions as well.
The catchers also have some depth. Jason Sloan, a freshman from Canberra, Australia, is slated to start behind the plate. Jones said Sloan has shown great leadership skills for being a freshman. The other catchers will include Shane Wade, a freshman from Erie, Colo., and Dallas Liptac, a sophomore from Scottsbluff.
Jones said there is plenty of depth at the positions on this year's team that could make this an exciting team to watch.
"We have some depth and we have some versatility," he said. "We don't want to have a lot of guys sitting on the bench, so position-wise we have our main guys and then we have back-up guys. We also have Vince Rouse, who is a back-up infielder, who has had some shoulder problems and won't be back for another month."
Other position players on the team include Evan Ljunghag, a freshman from Littleton, Colo.; and Jake Hoover, a freshman from Bellevue.
Other pitchers on the roster include Luis Orta, a freshman from Bolivar, Venezuela; Tim Kupfner, a freshman from Superior, Colo.; Cesar Perez, a sophomore from Miami; Joel Pormeluau, a freshman from Plymouth, Minn., and Eric Bissonette, a sophomore from Chadron.
The defense will definitely be a strength for the team this season, but offensively, they should be O.K. Jones said they won't be as offensive-minded like a year ago, but they will score runs.
"I don't think we are going to be an offensive team like we were a year ago where we will score eight or nine runs a game," he said. "I think we will be a defensive team, where we will pitch well enough and play good defense to keep the scores down. We will probably score five or six runs a ball game to come out with some victories. We are not going to put a lot of pressure on ourselves offensively."
And, if everything comes together, Jones is hoping his team can capture another Region IX title like in 2007 when the Cougars went 30-29. Last season, WNCC finished 22-27 and failed to make the Region IX playoffs.
"Only time will tell for sure if we can repeat 2007," he said. "We are inexperienced and it will be tough for these guys to go out there and grab a bunch of victories early. We might take our lumps a little bit early and that will be good for the freshmen. It will all depend on how they will handle that. They will be faced with some tough ball games early and if we can use it as learning experience, I think it help. If we get frustrated, it will be a different road for us. I think we can get back to the 2007, but only time will tell."
After this weekend's road games, the Cougars will open up the home season Feb. 21-22 at Cleveland Field against Dawson Community College. Jones is hoping the weather cooperates. After the Dawson game, the Cougars will be at home Feb. 25 against Colorado State.
"We are going to try to play some home games in February. We will see what happens," he said. "If we get weather like we had this past week it will be fine. We are still trying to get some snow to melt off of Cleveland Field. Dawson will come in. I don't know a lot about them, but hopefully we can get some nice weather and play some ball in Scottsbluff."
2009 Baseball Schedule
February
13 – at Seward County C.C., Liberal, Kan.; 14 – at Pratt Community College, Pratt, Kan.; 15 – at Barton County C.C., Great Bend, Kan.; 21-22 – Dawson Community College; 25 – Colorado State Club; 28 – at Trinidad State J.C., Trinidad, Colo.
March
1 – at Trinidad State J.C., Trinidad, Colo.; 3 – at Colorado State Club, Ft. Collins, Colo.; 7 – Lamar Community College; 8 – Otero Junior College; 10 – McCook Community College; 14-15 – at McCook Community College; 17 – at Neosho Community College, Coolidge, Ariz.; 18 – at Gateway Community College, Meza, Ariz.; 19 – at South Mountain C.C., Phoenix, Ariz.; 19 – at Chandler-Gilbert C.C., Chandler, Ariz.; 20 – at Glendale Community College, Glendale, Ariz.; 21 – at University of Arizona Club, Chandler, Ariz.; 22 – at Central Arizona College, Coolidge, Ariz.; 25 – Colorado State Club; 28-29 – Trinidad State J.C.; 31 – at Northeastern Colorado, Sterling, Colo.
April
1 – at Colby Community College, Colby, Kan.; 4-5 – at Otero Junior College, La Junta, Colo.; 7 – at Colorado State Club, Ft. Collins, Colo.; 10-11 – Northeastern Colorado; 15 – McCook Community College; 18-19 – at Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colo.; 22 – at Northeastern Colorado, Sterling, Colo.; 24-27 – Rain Make-up Dates.
May
1-2 – at Region IX Playoffs; 8-9 – at Region IX Championship; 14-16 – at Western District Championships
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