Mesa Community College baseball season preview
Bounce back stories are ones where it seems like everyone can get behind and cheer for them.
Earlier in the year, the Mesa Community College men’s soccer team had quite the bounce back season as they went from missing the playoffs last year, to not only making the Region I postseason, but making it to the NJCAA National tournament for the first time in program history.
Like the soccer team, head coach Tony Cirelli and the MCC baseball team hope to have similar success in their 2023 campaign.
History may be on their side, because the last time they missed the playoffs in 2013, the Thunderbirds came back to win it all including the National Championship in the following season.
For the first time since 2013, the MCC baseball team missed the postseason in 2022. The team finished with a 26-29 overall record, and a 12-26 conference record as they found themselves in unfamiliar territory.
MCC struggled more than usual with their pitching in the 2021-22 campaign, as their earned run average sat at 5.76, compared to their opponents who had an ERA of 4.22. The team also gave up 27 home runs throughout the year.
Offensively, the team hit the ball well as they were led in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average by either Dean Bitner or Connor Culp.
Unfortunately, both Culp and Bitner have moved on from MCC to continue their baseball careers at different universities.
However, losing two of their better offensive players doesn’t worry Cirelli, as this is a normal occurrence for him and his staff and they understand it needs to be a next man up mentality.
“We’re used to doing that, we have kids that step up every year,” said Cirelli.
With that being said, Cirelli and MCC did lose a fundamental part of their coaching and recruiting staff as assistant coach Doug Rose retired at the end of last season.
Rose was with the team for 25 years, and helped Cirelli get the best available ballplayers to become Thunderbirds.
“He brought all these guys in for years, he beat the bushes, did his homework, he really worked hard. It’s going to be tough to replace that. He has all the connections, and he was a huge part of our success,” said Cirelli.
Cirelli will have a bit of time to get his feet wet in the recruiting game, since Rose did bring in some of the players that are currently on the MCC roster.
Baseball, compared to other sports, has one of the longest seasons.
Just like other spring sports, the teams spend nearly the entire school year practicing, running drills, and playing scrimmages just to get ready for a regular season consisting of more than 50 games.
Cirelli and crew have realized that, with such a long grind at times, the players may become discouraged or unmotivated with the season being as demanding as it can be.
To counter that, the team will take a different approach at practices at times in order to help their players perfect their craft such as spending a couple hours in the cages working on situational approaches, or specific types of fielding.
“You gotta make it fun, the kids should want to come to the ballpark. We can break things down and they can get some good work for what their game needs,” said Cirelli, “We can isolate it and make sure they keep having fun and playing hard and respecting the game.”
MCC has less than 10 players returning from last season, which for some teams, might not be ideal.
With inexperience and a big adjustment from high school to college, freshmen tend to overthink and try to overextend themselves in order to play up to the higher level according to Cirelli.
“They think they have to do something different or better, it’s just trying to get them to try your stuff and play ball,” said Cirelli.
In order for the team to be successful this season, they will have to rely on the large number of freshmen to settle in early and play the game they have been playing most of their lives.
If all goes to plan early in the season for Cirelli, the team and the school will celebrate a historic milestone for their longtime skipper as Cirelli fast approaches 1,000 career wins.
Before the season begins, he sits at 992 victories, a number that sits 612 more than the next coach. Cirelli should hit the milestone around mid-February.
For Cirelli, the accomplishment isn’t about him; however, hitting that mark is a reflection on the people who he has been blessed to have around him during his time at MCC.
“It’s a tribute to everybody, I happen to have my name on the door. I’ve been really fortunate just to be in this situation to be surrounded by great coaches and players, it’s really just a number to me.”
The team will kick off the season on Jan. 27 in a non-conference game against Arizona Christian University JV. Their conference schedule will begin on Feb. 10 as they travel to play Glendale Community College
