2020 Review; Baseball Season Shows Promise, Before Being Cut Short

The 2020 MSJC baseball season was cut short 19 games into the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was especially disappointing for the players, families, fans, and coaching staff due to the team's latest success of winning six of their last nine games.

A very tough fall schedule prepared the Eagles well for the 2020 spring season. Fall games were played against D3 powerhouse University of Redlands, La Sierra University, top 25 NAIA program the University of Antelope Valley, and two extremely challenging contests against D3 reigning National Champions, Chapman University. The team concluded the fall with a highly competitive 3-game "Intersquad World Series" played in early December.

The Eagles got off to a slow start winning only 2 of their first 6 contests. However, the team looked to be hitting their stride at the perfect time heading into conference play. The Eagles concluded the season with a 4-2 record against Inland Empire opponents.

The shortened season had plenty of great moments as both the team and individuals excelled. The Eagles won their first conference games vs rival College of the Desert on the road to the impressive score of 14-2. Two days later the Eagles completed a 7-0 shutout win over conference foe, Victor Valley. The Eagles then showed their toughness and "never give up attitude" coming back from a 12-1 deficit on the road to beat Barstow 22-16. On 3/11, in what would be the last game of the season, MSJC would go on to beat San Bernardino Valley 7-5, giving then first-place Valley their only loss in conference play of the year.

         Individual performances fueled MSJC's success as conference play began. Freshman Fabian Correa (San Jacinto HS) was voted both Conference and Southern California Player of the Week of 3/12. Correa earned these honors with a .454 batting average and .647 on-base percentage. Freshman Alex Banuelos (Rancho Verde HS) earned conference Pitcher of the Week honors in the same week with 8 shutout innings only surrendering 3 hits vs Victor Valley. Conference Pitcher of the Week was also awarded to freshman Alonso Diaz (JW North), as Diaz threw 4 innings giving up zero runs in early February. Sophomore Andrew Sheppard (Tahquitz HS) dazzled in MSJC's 14-2 win over Desert with 7 innings of 1-run ball while only giving up 2 hits on 3/20.

         The team's offense was a bright spot in the shortened season. Getting on base was the Eagles specialty as the team ranked 2nd in all of Southern California in number of walks. Baserunning was a strength for the speedy Eagles as the team ran to the tune of 43 stolen bases, good for 7th in Southern California while being caught stealing a mere 9 times. Another strength of the Eagle's was hitting for power, as the team was 11th in southern California in total number of extra base hits. Getting walked, speed, and extra base hits helped propel the Eagles offense to a very impressive mark of over 8.5 runs per game. Other top performers leading the way for the Eagles high powered offense were: Simon Rangel .327 Batting Average (Temecula Valley), Aaron Harper .325 batting average (Hemet HS), and Ajay Parcero (San Jacinto HS) .435 OB%. 

The baseball staff is working hard to help find their sophomore players exciting homes for next year. As of today, right fielder Ricky Nunez (Roosevelt HS) has committed to Cal Poly Pomona and center fielder Joey Hauck (Rancho Christian) has committed to Cal State Stanislaus. Many other Eagle sophomores have received scholarship offers and are deciding where to further their education. 

The Eagles coaching staff is now recruiting and building their team for the 2021 season. If interested visit, https://msjcathletics.com/sports/bsb/Recruit_Me or e-mail head coach Michael Lonsdale directly at mlonsdale@msjc.edu.