Delta College baseball is battling to stay at the top of the Big 8 Conference.
The Mustangs’ primary focus during the preseason was to shake off rust after not competing in a full season since 2019.
Now with Big 8 play past the halfway mark, Head Coach Reed Peters is more confident about the performance of his team on the field.
However, he said that he is still not fully satisfied as he aims to put finishing touches to the team to be as highly competitive as possible, especially when it comes to defending.
Particularly, the Mustangs head coach wants to get the most out of the pitchers at the team’s disposal.
“We need to clean up our defense a little bit … and find a couple more guys on the mound,” said Peters.
Connor Semone and Seth Tomczak are the team’s leading openers, but Peters has seen in Nate Morris and Andrew Morones much needed pitching relief, and hopes the rest of the pitchers on the team follow.
“Morris has been carrying us a little bit. Morones has stepped it up, but we’re going to need to find one or two more arms that are going to be able to pitch out of the bullpen for us and get more out of our starters,” Peters said.
Compared to the preseason, players now feel better about themselves reaching their peak performance.
“We’re definitely locked in. We’re really stepping it up and the whole team is coming together,” outfielder Jack Tomlinson said.
Delta has shown to have its best game on offense throughout the season.
With a total of 146 runs added to the scoreboard, the Mustangs are currently the second highest scoring team in the Big 8, second to Cosumnes River with 160.
Conceding 86 runs, Delta is also defensively the second best team in league play behind Folsom Lake, who has conceded 73.
Tomlinson carries a big load of the Mustang offense as the player who has most made it to home plate (37) and hit seven home runs.
As the player who has contributed most to Delta’s offense, he also seeks to be the one whose teammates will rally behind.
“I think it’s just important that we show up every day with energy. I try to emphasize that to everybody and try to set an example for everybody,” said Tomlinson.
Outside of his abilities to rack up runs for Delta on the field, Peters thinks leadership is among the six-foot outfielder’s most valuable traits.
“He brings some veteran leadership. He’s a three-year guy, he’s been a Division I guy so his work ethic is solid. He’s a good leader for us and hopefully he’ll keep doing what he’s doing,” said Peters.
Apart from getting hits, Peters’ team has also characterized itself as being daring when it comes to running on the diamond.
In 32 games, the Mustangs have attempted to steal bases on 95 occasions, with 82 of them being successful.
Of those 82 steals, shortstop Kordell Brown has carried out 22, showcasing tremendous speed which Peters believes is necessary to get an edge on opponents.
“He’s definitely an exciting guy when he gets on base. He can make a lot of things happen for us,” he added.
At the beginning of the season, Peters emphasized the importance of not making the players go too hard on themselves during the season.
The head coach hopes this will be less of an issue as his team picks up victories.
“Wins definitely bring some confidence, that’s for sure,” said Peters.
This month Delta was able to play three games outside of the Big 8 last week to tune its performance.
The Mustangs defeated Taft College 12-3 on April 9 and Feather River 3-2 on April 4 in a non-league bouts, and fell 5-3 on April 6 in an exhibition against the Single-A Oakland A’s affiliated Stockton Ports.
Delta (24-8 Ovr., 13-4 Big 8) sits in first place of the Big 8 after 17 games of league play.
The Mustangs will play their next game at Cosumnes River College later this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. before hosting American River College next Tuesday.