Youth face big test in first season

Updated: March 30, 2011 3:04PM

Building a program from the ground up is no easy task.

Building that program within the confines of what should be a stacked Upstate Eight Conference is a whole other matter.

But that's the task facing coach Craig Tomczak and the rest of his staff as they get prepare Metea Valley for its first varsity baseball season.

"We want to be able to compete every day, with the way our conference is. Our conference is gonna be very, very difficult this year," said Tomczak, who spent eight seasons as a coach in Waubonsie Valley's program, serving as the head coach of both the freshman and sophomore programs at different points.

Last spring, behind the likes of left-hander Billy Sheeren, outfielder Ryan Solomon, who was second on the team in RBIs with 30, and shortstop Kenny Obendorf, the Mustangs' sophomores went 25-7.

"For a junior in high school, he knows how to pitch," Tomczak said of Sheeren, who went 2-2 with a 2.68 ERA last season. "He's got command of three pitches - fastball, changeup, curveball. He's worked really, really, really hard in the offseason to get better. He's a guy we're gonna kind of ride on the mound a little bit. He's definitely our No. 1."

Now, as juniors, they'll be asked to make the difficult transition from playing on the sophomore level to playing on the varsity level, a lesson that they quickly learned throughout last summer.

"We got hot at the right times last year. We had just enough depth last year," Tomczak said. "You don't know sometimes what other programs have sophomores playing varsity that might make them a little bit weaker. I'm not taking anything away from what we did, but I don't know at this point if we're as good as that record actually indicates."

Last season, the Mustangs got better with the bats as they went along and the offense will likely struggle out of the gate in 2011 while adjusting to playing at the varsity level. As Solomon and Obendorf - who hit .477 and .357 last season, respectively, along with left fielder Will Doirion, who'll hit No. 2 in the lineup - get comfortable, the productivity at the plate should increase.

Because of its lack of depth, Metea will be relying on a pair of sophomores, corner infielder Mike Fitzgerald and Andrew Fox, who will see time at both corner outfield spots.

"If we can go out and compete, and I tell the guys, ‘let's not confuse competing with how many games we win or how many games we lose,' I think it'll set us up as we advance the program in years to come," Tomczak said.

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