Last year was an exceptional one for the West Orange-Stark Mustangs. They went 10-0 to win the district championship. Graduation took many of the Mustangs from that team, and West Orange-Stark has a new head baseball coach in Ryan Pickering who has been with the program for six years.
Pickering has three returning lettermen for West Orange-Stark. Chad Dallas has been on the varsity all four of his years with the Mustangs and will be a leader this season. Kaleb Ramsey will be the starting first baseman again. Blake Robinson returns in center field.
There are some young Mustangs that Coach Pickering hopes will fill holes in the lineup. Two sophomores, a junior, a senior will be seeing more playing time on the varsity this season. Jose Alvarez is a senior who has worked hard to earn his spot on the varsity. Jayz’n Robinson is Blake’s brother and should find a spot in the outfield.
The sophomores are William Robles a middle infielder and Justin Veitch who will play catcher and maybe play some corner infield. Pickering advised, “We’re hoping those younger guys can help us get to where we want to be.”
Pickering evaluated his hitting prospects. First and foremost, at the plate will be Chad Dallas. He is a switch-hitter and has faced varsity type pitching for four years. Ramsay was big for the Mustangs late in the season last year, and Coach Pickering hopes Kaleb will get his bat going early. Veitch has shown a lot of promise with the bat and is progressing well according to Pickering.
Pitching has been a strength for the Mustangs in recent years. Coach Pickering is counting on his ace to provide more solid pitching this year. The man on the mound just like at the plate will be Dallas who teamed with his brother Jack last season to give the Mustangs a dynamite one-two punch. Finding someone to throw after his ace will be the big chore for Pickering.
Kaleb Ramsay is a big lefty that Pickering hopes could be the number two starter. Several young guys like Veitch and Robles will see significant innings. Junior Da’quarius Gipson should be good for some innings. Alvarez the senior has spent most of his time on the junior varsity until now. Coach Pickering believes, “He’s been working real hard in the off season and hopefully he can get some of those middle innings for us.”
With limited experience coming back repeating as district champions will be difficult for the Mustangs. Pickering gave his expectations for West Orange-Stark as taking the season one game at a time and ultimately the goal the Mustangs are shooting for is the playoffs. He indicated it does not matter whether it is first, second, third, or fourth place as long as they qualify for the post season.
The Mustangs have a lot of new faces and finding the best combination of players will be a key the coach stated for West Orange-Stark to be a playoff contender. “Once we get in that’s the goal, and we’ll see what happens from there,” Pickering concluded.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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