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Volume 38 Issue 9
February 13, 2001

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Baseball’s back in swing
T-Birds revamped lineup talented yet inexperienced

BY CHRIS BOWMAN
MESA LEGEND
Submitted February 13, 2001

The weather is marvelous around MCC’s campus these days, so you know that something must have happened.

The wonderful month of February came and brought baseball back.

Chris Bowman/MESA LEGEND

MCC’s sophomore second baseman Brian Wiscombe takes a rip at a pitch from Fullerton College. The T-Birds beat the traveling California squad 5-2.

MCC opened up their season in Texas during the last weekend of January at El Paso Community College.

The two teams played four games in two days, and split the series 2-2.

Sophomore pitcher Cory Hennessy earned his first shutout win of the season in the second game of the series.

MCC lost a major portion of last season’s team and only have nine sophomores on their 26-man roster.

Four of the sophomores are pitchers, three are catchers, and two play infield positions.

The rest of the team consists of untried freshmen.

Head coach Tony Cirelli’s raw lineup may never have done anything important before, but that hasn’t stopped him from believing in his team’s ability to do big things this season.

"I would imagine that people are predicting us to finish near the bottom of the pack because we are so young," Cirelli said.

"At a junior college, every year is a rebuilding situation, so you never can tell," he continued. "I do know we have some good speed. I think we have a very deep pitching staff and that’s something we didn’t have last year. If we play good defense and pitch well, then I know we are going to be a pretty tough team."

MCC hosted four games against out-of-state teams on Feb.2-3.

Southern California’s Fullerton College squared off with the T-Birds first.

Ace starting pitcher Josh Fields shut down Fullerton for six perfect innings as MCC won the game 5-2.

"I had a few pitches working for me today," said Fields, who is MCC’s co-captain.

"I think that was a good team we played, but when we play good defense and swing the bats well, I think we’re a good club."

Texas’ North Lake Community College came in next and took a 17-10 thrashing from the T-Birds.

Sophomore Dan Ford picked up his first win in the game as he evened his record at 1-1.

MCC had a 10-3 lead during their next game against Butte College, but lost the game 11-10 in the late innings with many of their starters on the bench.

"These games are important for our young guys to get experience," Cirelli said. "Maybe I should have gone to the bullpen sooner, but we made some key errors that hurt us in that game."

The last game versus the out-of-towners was against Sierra College.

Freshman pitcher Josh Blocher took the loss, as the T-Birds let another game slip away in the late innings.

Grand Canyon University’s junior varsity team traveled to MCC on Feb. 5 and got demolished by the T-Birds 18-6. Freshman centerfielder Derrik Lytle from Mesa High School had three hits in the game including a three-run homerun in the sixth inning which sparked the attention from two professional scouts.

"Playing in front of my parents is no different to me than playing in front of someone who might want to pick me up," Lytle said. "I want to show everyone that I can play a little bit."

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