Juniors Will Lead Inexperienced Bulldogs

DAYTON - After a strong season complete with a first round win at playoffs, Dayton's baseball team is a mix of fresh young faces, seasoned talent and no se­niors.

And by fresh faces, head coach Sal Benevides means really fresh.

The four current seniors who would filled out the team last year, decided not to play this year, Bena­vides said. So he had to pull younger players up to the varsity team to fill out the roster.

The 13-student team now includes four eighth grad­ers as well as two exchange high school students. Of those boys, both exchange students and one of the eight graders have never played baseball before at any level.

"Growing pains are going to be challenging," Bena­vides said. "It'll be interest­ing."

But the team isn't all nov­ices. Several of the juniors on the squad have racked up quite the record, playing in the playoff game against Liberty Christian last year and helping the team come out of their underdog status for a win.

The team's goal was to make it to playoffs and they did just that last year, Benavides said. And after a first round win and a loss to Waitsburg, the team set a high standard for this year's young team to aspire to.

Benavides said the team has three solid pitchers to rely on this season, Lowden Smith, Guy Spalinger and Logan Hays.

One challenge the strong pitchers, especially Smith, pose for the team is their need for a strong catcher, Benavides said. Smith has such a strong arm, Bena­vides is actually challenged trying to find someone who can catch for him.

The team's only catcher right now is Hays, but Bena­vides said he hopes to work Spalinger into catching as well.

Benavides said he thinks strong pitchers could be able to hit as well as they pitch, contributing to the ele­ment of surprise the team will hold when facing opponents.

Benavides said the lineup will start with Christian War­ner as the leadoff batter. Spal­inger will hit second, Smith third, and Hays or Robert Loper will bat cleanup.

The junior players have been important to the team's progress already this season, Benavides said. Four juniors have been working with the younger players on batting and pitching.

"They're helping me too," Benavides said. "It takes a lot of time when we have to do that individually."

That leadership will prove an essential component to the young team this year if they want to make it to playoffs again. Benavides said this year's juniors have done more than many other students have in their three years on the team, giving them knowledge to draw from when helping their teammates.