<\/p>\n
The Jackrabbits find themselves in a situation somewhat familiar\u2014this year’s team is young, and lacks the power in the batting order to win a lot of shootouts. <\/span>“We have to play great defense, and try to score when the opportunity arises,” says Poly coach Toby Hess. <\/span>“We have to play a precise game.” <\/span>The Rabbits continue to boast a talented, youth-driven roster; their most successful pitcher in the nonleague schedule is a freshman (Chris Castellanos, who gave up just four hits and no runs in 11 innings of work), and their two best hitters are a sophomore, and a junior.<\/p>\n Poly hasn’t put up the record, or the numbers that many anticipated during the nonleague schedule, going just 3-5. <\/span>It would be unwise to take this team lightly because of that record, though. <\/span>Thomas Walker and Tyler Maxwell, who Hess calls his best pitcher and hitter, both missed essentially that entire stretch with injuries (a ribcage muscle tear and a back injury, respectively), and they’re just going to start working back in this week. <\/span>Hess expects both to be full strength by the end of the lull for Spring Break. <\/span>“It’s been a little frustrating, both for those kids and for us as a team\u2014we haven’t been the team we thought we’d be.” <\/span>If Castellanos stays hot and Maxwell comes back strong, and Walker, sophomore Jeff Turley, and Daniel Cook can provide consistent offense, the Rabbits could have a heck of a stretch run in them. <\/span>They play Cabrillo (Wednesday), Millikan (Friday), and Jordan (next Tuesday) prior to the break.<\/p>\n The Team Daniel Cook, junior outfielder<\/span>; Cook has been Poly’s second most reliable hitter with Walker out of the lineup, with a homerun against Mira Costa, and he’ll lead things off for Poly. <\/span>A very get-on-base hitter. Nikko Santos, senior catcher;<\/span> Hess calls Santos, a rare senior on the Poly squad, an “anchor” defensively. <\/span>They’ll start without him against Cabrillo due to an ejection in Poly’s last game. Jeff Turley, sophomore utility;<\/span> Turley is what’s referred to as a “coaching luxury.” <\/span>The sophomore can (and according to Hess, will) play all nine positions, and is an ambidextrous pitcher and hitter. <\/span>As a hitter, he’s been the most consistent on the team, hitting .455 with a homerun. <\/span>He’s already taken the field at nine positions for the Rabbits, spelling players who are injured or struggling.<\/p>\n Thomas Walker, junior 3B;<\/span> Hess calls his junior the best defensive third baseman in the league. <\/span>He’s also one of the better hitters, and Poly’s only other true longball threat, with Turley. <\/span>They’ll switch batting cleanup this season.<\/p>\n Hayden Hunt, sophomore rightfielder;<\/span> Hunt is the fastest player on the team, and Hess says he’s a good gap hitter, who obviously brings range to his position in the outfield. <\/span>“He’s a good combo of speed and power,” says Hess. <\/span>“Having he and Jeff in the lineup for the next three years is great.”<\/p>\n Eric Gonzalez, senior SS;<\/span> Gonzalez is not the best hitter, but has been a spectacular defender for Poly at the shortstop position. <\/span>“Not a muscle player,” says Hess. <\/span>“Just good hands and a good arm.” Henry Severson, junior 2B<\/span>; Severson hit .300 as a freshman and sophomore, and while he’s struggled a little so far in his junior year, don’t be surprised if things pick up. <\/span>He’s also a good second baseman who can take the mound in relief.<\/p>\n Tyler Maxwell (junior), Trevor Kellogg (senior), Chris Castellanos (freshman), pitchers;<\/span> these three will form the basis of Poly’s bullpen, with Maxwell playing the role of ace when he’s healthy. <\/span>He was also a first team all-league player in the outfield. <\/span>Maxwell has command of three pitches, and is a good base-stealer. <\/span>Castellanos, as discussed, has been Poly’s most successful player on the mound in Maxwell’s absence.<\/p>\n Click here to see where Poly stands in the 2010 Moore League Coaches’ Poll<\/a>, and click here for the full 2010 Moore League schedule.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our look at the upcoming 2010 season for the Poly Jackrabbits baseball team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}