Ian Mendola and Adam Aquaro
Staff Writers
In recent months, the New Hope’s baseball team has kicked off the season with winter workouts. The team has been practicing in the middle school gym since November 7th from 7-9 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays every week. The team continues to work in the gym, building their team chemistry before they step foot on the field in the spring. Focusing on their hitting skills during the winter months will prep them for the spring training they will do in Florida.
Over Spring Break, the team will travel to Vero Beach Florida to help get their game up playing against good competition and getting as many reps as possible. Dodgertown, Florida is where the games will be held for the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams as well. The team will spend a week playing games, practicing, and bonding with each other to get to know the people they will be with for the next 6 months. The program will run 6 days a week and go for the rest of the year until June once the season starts.
Captains Cameron Mertz and Deven Smith will lead the team into the 2020 season. Mertz is a 4-year varsity shortstop looking forward to his best season yet. Last year the team felt he was snubbed from a first-team spot as he had an exceptional season batting just under .500 and being a leader on and off of the field.. His batting average was just below500 while hitting 2 round-trippers. Deven is a 4-year varsity pitcher looking forward to continuing his success. Deven was also the starting striker for New Hope’s soccer team that made it to the state finals. A dedicated sportsman, Devon was key in making it to districts last year when he had a dominant pitching outing, and he hopes to continue the team even farther for the upcoming season.
The boys are looking forward to the upcoming season and getting out onto the field as soon as possible.
