*****
Story by Emily Werchadlo
Pictures by Sean DuFrene
Part two
Senior catcher Doug Peters gives a high five to Weston Sailer (8) before Escondido’s game against Valley Center May 10.
Escondido flourishes as freshmen join the team
The Escondido baseball team begins Valley League play on a cool, crisp night under the bright lights of Pete Coscarart Field. There are nearly 100 people in attendance, bundled up and warmed by hot chocolate, to watch the Cougars take on cross-town rival Orange Glen.
Most people would consider it an easy win. Most people aren’t Escondido head coach Steve Afenir. Afenir needs only to look back one season for a pair of reasons why he should take the Patriots seriously: two losses.
Despite it being only April 9 — the midway point of the season — the game is incredibly important.
With a 3-10 preseason record, making the playoffs without a Valley League title is a long shot.
The Cougars make a statement early, taking a 4-1 lead through the first three innings and putting up a five spot in the sixth. Rehabbed pitcher Troy Williams, who broke his non-throwing wrist in a snowboarding accident in the off-season, is dealing on the mound.
As the senior mows down Patriots batters, it’s clear his return couldn’t have come soon enough. After six innings, with Escondido up 9-2, Afenir wanders over to scorebook keeper Dave Peters.
“Has he given up a hit yet?” he asks Peters.
Troy hasn’t, and he doesn’t in the seventh, either. Unfortunately for the pitcher, a bevy of errors that led to two Orange Glen runs throws off his teammates, and there’s no swarm on the mound as is customary after such a rare accomplishment.
The Cougars are just happy to get a win.
“I think that’s a no-hitter,” Afenir says in the postgame huddle, finally giving Troy the credit he deserves from his teammates. “If we get pitching like that, we’ll win league.”
It’s an optimistic start to the second half of the season.
“1-0. That’s what we are,” Afenir says.
For Afenir, this time of year can be tricky.
Many of the Cougars’ parents invest as much time in baseball as their children, and they don’t enjoy watching their kids ride the bench. Afenir knows that after some games, the parents might be waiting in the parking lot to speak on behalf of their sons.
The issue comes to the forefront as the midpoint of the season arrives.
After starting the year on the junior varsity roster, freshmen Tim Zier and Audie Afenir get called up just before league play to aid the varsity club.
The arrival of the freshmen means some of the Cougars’ players will lose their starting positions.
The Escondido baseball team begins Valley League play on a cool, crisp night under the bright lights of Pete Coscarart Field. There are nearly 100 people in attendance, bundled up and warmed by hot chocolate, to watch the Cougars take on cross-town rival Orange Glen.
Most people would consider it an easy win. Most people aren’t Escondido head coach Steve Afenir. Afenir needs only to look back one season for a pair of reasons why he should take the Patriots seriously: two losses.
Despite it being only April 9 — the midway point of the season — the game is incredibly important.
With a 3-10 preseason record, making the playoffs without a Valley League title is a long shot.
The Cougars make a statement early, taking a 4-1 lead through the first three innings and putting up a five spot in the sixth. Rehabbed pitcher Troy Williams, who broke his non-throwing wrist in a snowboarding accident in the off-season, is dealing on the mound.
As the senior mows down Patriots batters, it’s clear his return couldn’t have come soon enough. After six innings, with Escondido up 9-2, Afenir wanders over to scorebook keeper Dave Peters.
“Has he given up a hit yet?” he asks Peters.
Troy hasn’t, and he doesn’t in the seventh, either. Unfortunately for the pitcher, a bevy of errors that led to two Orange Glen runs throws off his teammates, and there’s no swarm on the mound as is customary after such a rare accomplishment.
The Cougars are just happy to get a win.
“I think that’s a no-hitter,” Afenir says in the postgame huddle, finally giving Troy the credit he deserves from his teammates. “If we get pitching like that, we’ll win league.”
It’s an optimistic start to the second half of the season.
“1-0. That’s what we are,” Afenir says.
******
For Afenir, this time of year can be tricky.
Many of the Cougars’ parents invest as much time in baseball as their children, and they don’t enjoy watching their kids ride the bench. Afenir knows that after some games, the parents might be waiting in the parking lot to speak on behalf of their sons.
The issue comes to the forefront as the midpoint of the season arrives.
After starting the year on the junior varsity roster, freshmen Tim Zier and Audie Afenir get called up just before league play to aid the varsity club.
The arrival of the freshmen means some of the Cougars’ players will lose their starting positions.
Audie Afenir lays down a bunt to bring in a runner to help the Cougars defeat Valley Center.
For Audie, the pressure of fitting in is doubled because of his last name: Not only is he a freshman, but he’s also the nephew of the head coach and the son of former major leaguer Troy, an assistant coach. Part of Escondido’s best-known baseball family, the freshman is expected to impress.
“It’s pretty hard,” Audie says. “Lots of people say stuff. They kid around and say, ‘That’s why you get to play.’ ”
But it’s unlikely that Audie (whose real name is Austin) would be pegged as an Afenir by his looks. While the Afenir coaches are tall, hulking, dark-haired men, Audie has blazing red hair and freckles and the kind of build that lends itself to a few more years of growing.
He’s almost painfully quiet, so much so that when he calls for a pop-up in a late-season game, pitcher Troy Williams wonders aloud, “So that’s what Audie sounds like?”
Audie might be quiet, but his performance at the plate speaks volumes. Through the first few weeks of league play, he hits better than nearly everyone, providing power near the bottom of the lineup as well as a much-needed upgrade at third base.
Audie mostly keeps to himself around the team, no doubt mindful of the expectations connected to his call-up.
“People think that Audie is good because his father was in the major leagues,” says his dad, Troy. “But he’s good because he works really hard.”
Freshman designated hitter Tim Zier checks the day’s lineup before the Cougars’ game against Valley Center May 10.
Tim is nearly the polar opposite of Audie. Also a freshman, Tim is more than six months older. He embraces the game of baseball with a focus and seriousness unlike many of his teammates, giving off the vibe that a strikeout might linger in his psyche for days.
“I bust my butt a lot,” Tim says. “I’m hard on myself. That’s what I’m working on right now. I like the game so much, I just want to succeed.”
His confidence on the field and with his teammates reflects that of a veteran player, and he shows maturity and fearlessness at the plate.
Unlike Audie, who was a likely call-up from the beginning of the season, Tim impressed the coaching staff with his play during the Lions Tournament.
Escondido, in desperate need of a leadoff hitter, found one in Tim. Despite a short stature, he has strong legs and is a deceivingly fast runner. He’s also sociable with his teammates and quickly blends in with the group.
Audie is mindful of the differences between him and his classmate.
“He’s outgoing,” he says of Tim. “I just like to play, do what I do.”
The two freshmen quickly become the pieces that complete the puzzle for the Cougars.
Despite the fact that Audie and Tim are worthy starters, rumblings still exist among the older players.
“Some people are grumbling about it, they’re bummed they’re not playing,” says Troy Williams. “I hear the parents talking. But we’re getting better. It’s just a matter of who’s getting it done.”
Junior center fielder Jarrett Sisler, who came up to varsity as a sophomore, can relate.
“I know the feeling, like you’re not welcome,” he says. “But good for them. It’s anyone who can play. They kept their spots because they earned them. They’re varsity-level players.”
Coach Afenir doesn’t completely turn his back on his varsity players.
In an attempt to quell the displeasure, he platoons certain starters, but he finds that to be a heavy task as well.
After one game, a player who was given a “second chance” publicly apologizes to his team and his coach for his poor play.
Afenir is surprised at the seriousness of the scene.
“This is the part of the season where things get dicey, where you start talking to kids about roles,” he says. “But (he) screwed up; when did this become life or death?”
*****
Escondido scores a walk-off win on April 10 against Orange Glen.
The next week the Cougars defeat San Marcos 4-2 to start league 3-0, before dropping a winnable game to Valley Center the next day.
The Cougars are getting caught in pickles, forgetting to swing on hit-and-runs and failing to execute the bunt.
Afenir is so disgusted with his team’s play against the Jaguars, he refuses to coach third base.
To Afenir, the poor play isn’t the Cougars team of last week, which won back-to-back contests with Orange Glen. It’s the team of preseason, the team that went 3-10 and has no chance of winning league.
The coach sits motionless on the bench. The players are afraid to speak to him. They know that the only thing worse than their coach yelling is his silence.
Afenir isn’t afraid to speak out after the game.
“They don’t listen. They didn’t follow a single thing I did all day,” he says. “They are the uncoachables. It’s just stupid baseball. That’s become Cougar baseball.”
By the next game, a road contest against Mission Hills, Afenir has cooled considerably. He’s also got a new tool for motivation: thickly applied layers of eye black.
First baseman and Cougar captain Brett Hartman has eye black applied by head coach Steve Afenir. Eye black was the team’s “slump-buster,” Afenir says.
“It’s our slump-buster,” Afenir says as he paints the players’ faces in the dugout, becoming a self-declared makeup artist.
The Cougars defeat Mission Hills 4-2 to get back on track. The eye black becomes a pregame ritual for the rest of the year.
******
By midseason, many of the seniors on the Escondido team are looking for their own magic wand.
The pressure is on.
Not the pressure of school or the pressure of the Cougars team, but the pressure of finding a new home for their baseball talents — the pressure of finding a college willing to let them play.
The clock is ticking.
Captain Brett Hartman was well on his way to a top program after a stellar junior season. But last summer — the prime time to showcase his skills at camps — Hartman injured his back, slowing his progress for the upcoming season.
“There’s a short, small window where you can make hay,” explains Afenir.
For Hartman, the 2007 season represents his last opportunity in high school to get noticed.
One college that has noticed him is Fort Hays State University in Kansas. It’s not a Division I program — the town’s population is 20,000 — but when it comes to scholarships and playing time, Hartman has to give every offer fair consideration.
So the senior and his family take a trip to the small town, a struggle in its own right. The closest airport is Denver, and they have to take a four-hour car ride to reach their destination.
Hartman knows almost immediately it’s not for him.
“It’s good to go out there and see what it was like,” he says. “It’s a good start.”
Pitcher Anthony Nutter’s college baseball options are limited to one school: Harvard. Though he has already been accepted to the university, he hasn’t officially been offered a spot on the team. The Crimson reserves many of its roster spots and scholarships for students who might not otherwise be accepted to the Ivy League school.
But without Anthony knowing it, Harvard has been scouting him. In late April, he takes his first trip to Boston for an orientation weekend and to see where he will be spending the next four years.
Once there, Anthony will have one of the best weekends of his life. For the first time, he’s around people who get him.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else,” he proudly proclaims when he returns home.
As if his time there wasn’t good enough, the Harvard coach tells Anthony he wants him on the team next year.
The future is clear for one player on the Cougars team.
For many others, it’s still up in the air.
*****
With a 4-2 league record, the Cougars find themselves at a game on their schedule that is must-win.
It’s not must-win for the fate of the season, it’s must-win for the pride of the team. The game is against heated rival San Pasqual, a matchup that is always memorable for both sides.
This game will be no exception. The players are chirping at each other from the dugouts, and the parents are arguing from both sides of the stands. The umpire is caught in the middle.
By the sixth inning, things have gotten downright ugly. San Pasqual’s Brandon Hartley crosses the plate and is tagged out by catcher Doug Peters. Doug gets spiked, ripping his pants and sending the senior down in a crumpled, angry ball. Both sides argue whether the contact was intentional.
Not getting up is not an option for Doug. He is the vocal leader of the Cougars and has maybe more to prove than any of them. He kneels down behind the plate every day knowing that just to the left or right of him are two guys who were catchers at the professional level, Tom and Troy Afenir.
“It puts a lot of pressure on me, pressure to perform,” Doug says. “But it’s kind of a resource. Coach Bit (Tom) has helped me a lot.”
If that weren’t enough, Doug was preceded by catcher Buck Afenir, the head coach’s son and a CIF Division II player of the year.
Doug has been soaking in the Afenirs’ expertise for years.
“Sophomore year I could kind of sit and watch Buckey a bit,” he says. “We have great coaches over here. They’ve all played baseball before. We’re learning from the best.”
The early season was a struggle for Doug, so he made the decision to step up in other ways.
“I try to be a leader,” he says. “I try to keep everyone up in down situations.”
Grimacing in pain behind home plate, Doug now needs his team to step up for him. They do, taking down San Pasqual 7-4 and ensuring that when the teams meet on the final night of the regular season, it will be revenge for both sides.
For now, there is an even more important game on the horizon: a trip to Ramona for a chance at first place in the Valley League. A 16-0 smashing of San Marcos in Escondido’s next game is just the kind of pump-up the Cougars need before heading up the hill.
The team is clicking. There has been a shift in momentum. Coach Afenir knows that the performance in Ramona will be the gauge to tell if things have really changed, if Escondido has really turned it around.
It’s not must-win for the fate of the season, it’s must-win for the pride of the team. The game is against heated rival San Pasqual, a matchup that is always memorable for both sides.
This game will be no exception. The players are chirping at each other from the dugouts, and the parents are arguing from both sides of the stands. The umpire is caught in the middle.
By the sixth inning, things have gotten downright ugly. San Pasqual’s Brandon Hartley crosses the plate and is tagged out by catcher Doug Peters. Doug gets spiked, ripping his pants and sending the senior down in a crumpled, angry ball. Both sides argue whether the contact was intentional.
Not getting up is not an option for Doug. He is the vocal leader of the Cougars and has maybe more to prove than any of them. He kneels down behind the plate every day knowing that just to the left or right of him are two guys who were catchers at the professional level, Tom and Troy Afenir.
“It puts a lot of pressure on me, pressure to perform,” Doug says. “But it’s kind of a resource. Coach Bit (Tom) has helped me a lot.”
If that weren’t enough, Doug was preceded by catcher Buck Afenir, the head coach’s son and a CIF Division II player of the year.
Doug has been soaking in the Afenirs’ expertise for years.
“Sophomore year I could kind of sit and watch Buckey a bit,” he says. “We have great coaches over here. They’ve all played baseball before. We’re learning from the best.”
The early season was a struggle for Doug, so he made the decision to step up in other ways.
“I try to be a leader,” he says. “I try to keep everyone up in down situations.”
Grimacing in pain behind home plate, Doug now needs his team to step up for him. They do, taking down San Pasqual 7-4 and ensuring that when the teams meet on the final night of the regular season, it will be revenge for both sides.
For now, there is an even more important game on the horizon: a trip to Ramona for a chance at first place in the Valley League. A 16-0 smashing of San Marcos in Escondido’s next game is just the kind of pump-up the Cougars need before heading up the hill.
The team is clicking. There has been a shift in momentum. Coach Afenir knows that the performance in Ramona will be the gauge to tell if things have really changed, if Escondido has really turned it around.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment