Amy Lisenbe/Nevada Appeal Matt Rutledge gets ready to throw the baseball during practice Monday afternoon at Carson High School as other players wait for their turn in the rotation.
Carson High baseball coach Steve Cook is ready to head into the unknown when it comes to the Northern 4A season this year.
While Cook has some question marks when it comes to his team this year, he also believes there's a lot of question marks as far as the Northern 4A season this year is concerned. "This year is going to be wide open," Cook said.
While two-time defending Northern 4A champion Galena again should be considered one of the favorites, the Grizzlies were hit hard by graduation. And there's always teams like Reno High and Douglas.
"You've always got to put those guys up there," Cook said. "You always put Reno, Douglas - you always put those guys in."
Cook said he's also concerned about Manogue. "Manogue is going to be one of the top teams in the North this year," he said.
Maybe it's psychological with Cook concering Manogue since the Miners have beaten his team in the first round of the Northern 4A playoffs the past two seasons.
Cook said among other teams to watch out for is Damonte Ranch. "They're doing all the right things in that program," he said.
So this season, Cook's main concern is just to be one of the four teams from the Sierra League to make the zone tournament. From there, anything can happen, he said.
"If we can make zone then that gives a shot. As long as we don't play Manogue first round, we'll be OK," said Cook jokingly. "Hopefully we're playing really good baseball at that time."
Since the NIAA 4A State Tournament will be held in the North this year, two Northern teams will advance and the battle for those two spots should be intense. "Zone's going to be some teams up there just dog fighting," Cook said.
Cook said he likes the chemistry of his 19-player squad this year. He said he also likes the fact that he returns several pitchers who saw a lot of innings on the mound in big-game situations.
Cook said right now there are four pitchers who will all see plenty of time competing for the three starting positions in the three-game league series. Left-hander Rob Valerius, David Eller, Stephen Sawyers and Matt Rutledge are the top for pitchers and Tyler Smith isn't far behind, Cook said. "We think he's going to eat up innings for us," Cook said.
Cook said as of now, Smith is the leading candidate to be the Tuesday starter in nonleague games and should be one of the top pitchers out of the bullpen. Another pitcher who should see a great deal of time is Kyle Stone.
Others who could see time on the mound are David Perce, David Charles, who's the only sophomore on the team, Cody Barr and Tyler Hutchins.
The Senators will also have plenty of depth in the infield. "We've got a ton of infielders that can play a bunch of spots," Cook said.
Valerius returns at first base and will play there a great deal when he's not pitching. There's also Paul Cagle, one of the top returning hitters on this year's team. No matter if it's first, catcher or designated hitter, there's no question Cagle's bat will be in the lineup somewhere. "Cagle, he hits a ton," Cook said.
The other three infield spots should be mostly filled by returning varsity players in Brett Valley at second, Markus Adams, a returning starter, at shortstop, and Kyle Stone, who really came on at the end of last season, at third. Other infielders who should see their share of playing time are Dustin Buttler, Perce, Eller and Hutchins, who can play second, short and third.
Tommy Preston is a candidate to start in left field and there's also Jeff Butler. Drew Good returns as the leadoff hitter and starting centerfielder. Rutledge, when he's not pitching, will start in right and Sawyers should receive plenty of playing time on the outfield as well.
Along with Cagle, there's also Cody Bone and Brooks Hutchins at catcher. The first five spots in the order will also also be flexible as Good, Adams and Stone can fluctuate in the first three spots in the order and Valerius and Cagle are interchangeable in the four-five spots.
Carson hopes that a tough early season schedule wil prepare it for the stretch run. CHS will open the season at Ron McNutt Field a week from today at 9 a.m. against Truckee in its preseason tournament. The Senators will also play Galena at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 8 in the tournament.
Then its off to the Manogue Tournament in which Carson will play Galena, Reed, Manogue and McQueen. After that Carson opens league play against Reno and Douglas.