Bakersfield College’s baseball team will start the season hosting a tournament with an opening game against Irvine Valley on Feb. 4.
Renegades head coach Tim Painton feels they have improved in every aspect of the game and this is in large part due to having the luxury of playing a full season at home.
“Everything will improve over last year,” he said.
“Last year we played 38 home games on the road and that’s just not how baseball is meant to function.”
The Renegades are bringing back 14 players from a team that went just 11-17 in conference with an overall record of 13-27-1 and Painton is looking for them to “just be better than last year.”
He attributes some of the rocky freshman play last season to the difference of talent from high school athletics, but acknowledged that the players went through a lot of growth over the previous season and is pleased with his team.
“We’ve seen that [growth] throughout the fall. So we’re happy with our returning players and what they’ve done,” he said.
“As far as our current freshmen, its going to be a learning experience as well for them because game situations and the caliber of play we’re going to see is different than they’ve played against in the past,” Painton said.
Sophomore shortstop Joe Ramirez knows what it’s like to be a freshman on a collegiate level team as he recalled, “Last year I was a little nervous, I got to admit, but I’m going to be there helping them through everything and lead by example. Hopefully people will follow.”
Sophomore first baseman/pitcher Art Charles feels another area of the team’s improvements is in the clubhouse.
“Team chemistry is just off the charts right now. We’ve grown so much as a team over the summer, so there’s just not much we need to do. We’re already doing it,” he said.
Charles added, “I have a good feeling about this year, Final Four is calling our name.”
The Renegades will also be without outfielder Jarret Martin, who hit .331 with 11 home runs (a BC record) and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles.
“I think overall we’ll have a better offense, a more balanced offense,” Painton said. “You know its tough to replace 10 home runs, but we have some guys in our lineup that are capable of doing that, so we’ll see what happens.”
“I think offensively we’ve got a good ball club. I really like our pitching. I think we’ll play good defense. You have to do all three of those things in baseball to win.
So I think we’re a pretty well rounded ball club that has good balance and depth,” Painton added.
The Renegades pitching staff gave up an average of just above five runs a game and is coming around this season. The team has 12 right-handed and two left-handed pitchers.
Pitcher Greg Fowler said of the team, “We’ve improved as a group, greater than last year [and] sooner. Last year, we were behind at this time but I think the team really gelled together and we’ve improved faster over the course of time.”
Fowler said he is ready to show what his pitches can do and throw his “be” ball which will as he said, “Be where I want it to be.”
Through all the changes over the summer, the Renegades feel that they ready to get the season underway and distance themselves from a rocky season last year. The Renegades have a doubleheader later this month, Feb. 20. They also play College of the Canyons on March 20 at home and at COC on the 23.