T-Bird baseball looks to rebound from disappointing season
Michael Jasper
Coach Tony Cirelli and his Mesa Thunderbirds Baseball team are looking to vastly improve upon last season in which they finished with a sub .500 record and had six athletes kicked off the program.The team’s struggles on the field last season could greatly be attributed to their off the field problems.
“We just had a couple guys last year who weren’t good influences in the sophomore group that we had,” Cirelli said. “We lost 6 guys who weren’t good in the clubhouse and who were very negative.
“I can see things on the field but I can’t always see things on the field.”
Coach Cirelli is set on putting those issues in the past and ensuring that those issues do not happen again.
“There were a lot of troubles off the field last year,” he said. “And now we are instituting new things this year to stay away from those troubles.”
Coach Cirelli is looking to make up a counsel of team leaders comprised of a mostly sophomore players.
They will be players whom Cirelli knows are not just good players but are guys who are great in the clubhouse and will not bring other players down.
According to MCC Sports Information Director, Todd Bolser, “Last year was an anomaly.”
Last season there were sophomores whom Coach Cirelli expected to have big seasons from who didn’t play up to their potential that was shown from their freshman year.
The team went from 27 players at the beginning of the year, to 21 at the end of the season.
Amidst all the troubles last season the team played very well at the end, and seemed to form a bond amidst all the turmoil.
“We had great games at the end,” Cirelli said. “The kids really hung in their and played well.”
The Thunderbirds finished the season with a disappointing 25-30 record, but notched Coach Cirelli his 500th career victory in the final game of the regular season against Scottsdale Community College.
Once the season ended, Cirelli immediately began recruiting.
“Cirelli is a great recruiter,” Bolser said. “It’s really what he does best.”
Cirelli has been very active this offseason in recruiting quality players, but more importantly players with quality character.
“We try to get the best kids out there,” Cirelli said. “People come from all over because they know MCC and our prestigious and esteemed program that we’ve got here.”
The Thunderbirds will need great recruits to fill the holes of many team leaders who left or have transferred to four year
colleges.
Outfielders Tyler Berg transferred to Wayland Baptist University and Dominic Gamboa who was a team leader in most offensive categories last year transferred to Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
Along with infielder Kevin Wells and pitcher Connor Lewis who was second on the team in innings pitched and is transferring to The University of Texas of The Permian Basin.
Coach Cirelli is excited about what this upcoming season has to offer.
“Our top two hitters from last year are coming back, (Jason) DeMore and (Nick) Orr, who are both solid on and off the field,” Cirelli said.
DeMore and Orr led the team in just about every offensive statistical category last season.
Also returning is pitcher Tony Fagan who led the team last season in innings pitched, strikeouts, ERA, and wins.
More of a defensive team than an offensive last season the Thunderbirds have to be very efficient and creative with how they scored runs beyond the four total home runs the team had last season.
“Since we play with a wood bat, home runs aren’t really going to happen,” he said. “So we played good defense and ran the bases well with good speed.”
“We play a lot more small ball because we’re a pretty athletic team.
