Season Preview -- Walker: ‘This is the best group in my six years’

It's been a great five-year run for SBCC baseball coach Jeff Walker and his sixth year could be the best of all.

The Vaqueros have reached the Southern Cal Regional in all five of his seasons and finished first or second in the WSC North each year. They won conference titles in 2012 and 2015 and placed fifth in the state in 2014-15, compiling a 60-26 record.

SBCC went 19-18 last year and 10 players return from that squad.

"We have a lot of new guys and this is the best group we've had in my six years," said Walker. "We have good balance with some team speed. We have a lot of left-handed bats and good pitching depth. We can roll out 12 or 14 guys on the mound with a couple of two-way guys – Steven Elliott and Jake Holton – who can pitch and play a position. That's the first time we've had that since I've been here.

"We have good depth in our pitching staff but there aren't three standout guys. Everyone is solid and I don't expect any drop-off. Position-wise we have 20 or 22 guys who can play. We can have a left-handed lineup or a right-handed lineup, which is a nice luxury."

SBCC is ranked No. 17 in the Southern Cal preseason coaches' poll. The Vaqueros open the season on Saturday vs. No. 16 Cerritos at Pershing Park, starting at 1 p.m.

Four position players return from last year. Center fielder Nicholas Allman earned first-team All-WSC North honors with a .304 batting average and a .470 slugging percentage. Other returning starters are shortstop Wesley Ghan-Gibson, right fielder Tyler Rosen and Andrew Schatz, a part-time starter at catcher last year.

Pitchers
The Vaqueros are loaded with talented newcomers in Elliott Reece, David Appleby, Kyle Basch, Kyle Wade and Connor Brewster. Reece, a 6-foot sophomore right-hander from Edmonds, Wash., has been the most consistent hurler in practice and Walker said he's going to start him in Saturday's opener with three or four pitchers probably seeing action.

Potential starting pitchers include Appleby, Brewster, Wade and Jayden Metz, a 6-4 freshman from Ventura High. Jake Keily, a hard-throwing reliever, returns from the 2015 Vaqueros when he posted a 2.33 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 19.1 innings.

Infield
Ghan-Gibson, a sophomore from San Marcos High, earned honorable mention All-WSC honors at shortstop. John Jensen, a freshman from Santa Barbara High, is a candidate to play third base along with Holton. Walker says he has "two to three quality guys at first and second base."

Outfield
Walker lists seven solid outfielders in Rosen, Allman, Elliott, Joseph Hamilton, Reinhard Lautz, Benjamin Barth and Aaron Portee. Allman, a transfer from Fresno State who played at California High in San Ramon, was No. 7 with a .360 average in 24 WSC North games last year. He was second in doubles (8) and fourth in slugging percentage (.581).

Schedule
The most talented team in Walker's tenure will face the toughest schedule in the last six years, starting with nine-time State champion Cerritos. The Vaqueros will face four teams from the Orange Empire Conference, which is usually the best in California. They'll play a three-game series at Saddleback on Feb. 2-4 and also face 2014-15 state champion Orange Coast in a two-game home set on April 13-14.

"We have 40 games this year – 20 conference and 20 nonconference – and it's the hardest schedule we've had," Walker noted. "We want to face the toughest competition we can."

Strengths
"Pitching, defense and speed," Walker stated. "We'll manufacture runs. It's always been our thing – pitching, play defense and steal some bases. We have some guys who can hit. Two other strengths will be our depth and our team unity."

The Vaqueros were second in the WSC in pitching last year with a 3.42 ERA.

Walker says the keys to success will be how quickly they come together and "finding the right mix and continuing to get better before we hit conference, which is always very, very tough."

The Vaqueros took second in the WSC North last season with a 16-8 record. They open conference play on March 7 with a 2 p.m. home game vs. Hancock.

Live Stream
All Vaquero home games will be available on Live Stream on the Internet with Peter Ghersen calling the action. The cost is $12.95 per game or $21.95 for the entire home season.