Devin Sanchez pops up to try to throw out a base stealer during the Senators’ league-opening contest against Douglas on Tuesday.
Photo by Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage.
Through its first five games, Carson High head baseball coach Bryan Manoukian has a good look at his team.
After a 10-3 loss to Douglas on its home field, Manoukian said the early season priority has to be steadying the Senators’ defense.
Sixteen errors through five games hasn’t given Carson a chance to build on several quality offensive starts from quite a few players this season.
“We put ourselves in really tight spots where we have to make plays. That’s a tough situation for a young team that doesn’t have a lot of league experience,” said Manoukian. “We have 11 of our 19 rostered players who have never played a varsity game before.”
Through the lineup
No baseball lineup is ever set in stone, especially with the youth the Senators will display this season.
Early on, senior Trey Thomas has been the backbone, eating up 7.1 innings on the mound and hitting a .600 batting average with eight RBIs through the season’s first five games.
Fellow returning seniors for Carson are Ian Fontaine, Tanner Hunt, Ryan Marquart and Aiden Lopez have all had varying amounts of diamond work through their career’s, but will be key pieces for the Senators through the bulk of the season.
“I would assume we might not have the same lineup for the next four weeks with pitching rotations and DHs,” said Manoukian. “Playing time is kind of wide open. Half of the positions will be platoon and half won’t be.”
With only one league game under its belt, the Senators have plenty of time to find a more solidified roster while gaining experience for athletes who are just hitting the varsity field for the first time.
Thomas, Marquart and Aden McNabb are locked in as starters, but with the number of byes and the way the scheduling is setup this season, Manoukian thinks rotations will change based on rest.
“We are going to have to be able to locate our offspeed pitches for strikes,” said Manoukian. “We can’t be one dimensional.”
Around the diamond, DeCarlo Quintana is expected to jump from a role position to nearly an every day player this season. Quintana made a spectacular running catch while crashing into the left field fence against Douglas on Tuesday.
Jeremy Hernandez, Caleb Morgan, Quentin Beck, Cooper Eaton and Tanner Bohemier are all getting their first looks at varsity this season.
“We’re going to be giving guys opportunities to see who wants to step up and decide the role they want to have,” added Manoukian.
(DeCarlo Quintana makes a running catch in deep left field before crashing into the fence Tuesday. Carson head coach Bryan Manoukian said it was one of the best catches he has seen on the Senators’ field. / Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage)
Around the league
As the new league format takes place, all nine teams in the Class 5A North will be competing for eight postseason spots come mid-May.
“The league is so competitive this year. Every team has one or two guys that can dominate on the mound,” said Manoukian. “Until somebody beats Reno, they have to be the favorite.”
Damonte Ranch, McQueen and Reed will all be tough outs along the way as well as Douglas, who proved to be too much Tuesday.
With a bye this weekend, the Senators will get one more league contest in before heading over the Sierra to California for a tournament next week.
2022 Carson High baseball schedule
3/15 – at Spanish Springs, 3:45 p.m.
3/17 – at Albany (CA), 4 p.m.
3/19 – at Saint Mary’s (CA) DH, 10 a.m.
3/22 – v. Bishop Manogue, 3:45 p.m.
3/29 – v. McQueen, 3:45 p.m.
3/31 – v. Spanish Springs, 6 p.m.
4/2 – at Reed, 11 a.m.
4/5 – at Bishop Manogue, 3:45 p.m.
4/7 – v. Galena, 7 p.m.
4/9 – v. Reno, 11 a.m.
4/11 – at Shadow Ridge*, 11 a.m.
4/11 – at Foothill*, 2 p.m.
4/12 – at Las Vegas, 3 p.m.
4/13 – at Legacy*, 11 a.m.
4/13 – at Liberty, 2 p.m.
4/19 – v. McQueen, 6 p.m.
4/21 – at Damonte Ranch, 3:45 p.m.
4/23 – at Galena, 11 a.m.
4/26 – v. Damonte Ranch, 7 p.m.
4/30 – at Reno, 11 a.m.
5/3 – v. Reed, 7 p.m.
5/4 – at Douglas, 4 p.m.
5/7 – at Bishop Manogue, 11 a.m.
* denotes neutral site tournament contest
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