en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:26:24 GMT 15 By Zachary A. Newman
It’s Spring time again: the sun is out, so break out your favorite pair of shorts, clean off the barbeque, and catch a few high school baseball games. The Lincoln varsity baseball team has high hopes for the upcoming season, with 14 of the 19 players on the roster being seniors, and all of them anxious to end Lincoln’s 35-year title draught. “We have a stacked lineup,” senior outfielder and pitcher Bobby Collins said. “We’re going to try and not beat ourselves so we have an opportunity to step into Pac Bell [SBC Park] as players. We know we have a chance.” The team is led by pre-season All-American junior pitcher Jason Timko and senior pitcher and shortstop Steve Rogers, whom head coach Jason Villacampa calls the “best player in the league. He’s a great leader.” Villacampa, a class of 2000 Lincoln graduate and entering his second straight year as varsity coach, says that the Mustangs’ biggest competition this year will come from the Lowell Cardinals, and he has faith in his players to succeed. “They improve as a team,” he said, “they’re having fun and they have respect for the game. I tell them that I would rather have played with them than the guys I played with five years ago. I look forward to spending time with the team every day. They’re a great group.” Despite having 8 rainouts in the beginning of the season, Villacampa describes the team as “over achieving” and “ahead of schedule” defensively. Despite having an overall record of 6-4, the Mustangs are undefeated in league games with a 4-0 record. “I think we have a very good chance [of playing the championship game],” said Collins. “We’ve spent a long time playing together, and we have six or seven pitchers that can shut everyone down.” ]]> Fri, 15 Apr 2005 21:18:00 GMT