The Baseball team had an orange and black scrimmage game to help raise money to buy new equipment

By Matthew Owens

Teammate vs. teammate squared off against one another to fight for bragging rights at the annual Orange and Black fundraising scrimmage on March 28.

“The game not only raises money for the program but also it helps build camaraderie amongst the guys,” head coach Domenic Mussat said. “Also, we want to have a little fun because that is what baseball is all about.”

This year the game was not just seniors vs. juniors or sophomores vs freshman. The coaches did a “fantasy draft” to decide what players would be on their teams.

“The best part about doing the drafts was being able to look at the team in a depth-chart way,” said JV coach Josiah Enyart said. “It gave the players a chance to showcase their abilities against their teammate competitors at their positions. From a coach’s standpoint, it allowed me to get a better idea of where each player was ability wise and what to work on individually.”

In the first game,  a draft of varsity and JV players, assistant varsity coach Patrick Whitney’s team beat Enyart’s team 8-2.

“It felt great to win the game,” Whitney said. “Even better was to watch the players have so much fun.”

In the second game, a draft of sophomores and freshmen, Enyart beat C-Team coach Tanner Ybarra’s team 9-5.

“It felt awesome to beat my teammates,” Enyart’s player and outfielder Will Andruss said. “It really just gives you  bragging rights that everybody desires on a sports team that aren’t really serious but are fun to joke around with. I thought the games went great, they ran smooth and it was just a lot of friendly competition that I’m sure was fun for everybody involved.”

The game was just for fun but the coaches were still looking for teaching moments and ways to help their teams improve.

“The biggest moment of the game to me was when a player didn’t tag up at third  on a fly ball and it ended in an out because the runner at second thought he could move up, but ended up stranded,” Enyart said. “ The game moves faster and faster the higher up you play, and some of them are realizing that the little league mistakes they could get away with won’t work here. If we don’t recognize our mistakes, we can never learn from them.”

The coaches liked to hear the communication between the players both during and after the game.

“The best part of the game was the chatter between the boys,” Enyart said.” It was fun to watch them compete and still joke with their teammates, even if they were on the opposing team. They got to experience competitive baseball in a more relaxed setting.”

The team has raised over $6,000.

Team would like to buy with the money- L Screens, Uniforms, Dirt Rakes, Mound Clay, Baseballs.