Submitted photos – The Arcata Tigers had reason to smile at Kelseyville on Saturday.
By Ray Hamill — An experienced Arcata Tigers team will be the favorite to win this year’s Big 5 in baseball, with the league set to begin play on Wednesday.
The Tigers feature an experienced senior-heavy lineup with plenty of depth and few notable weaknesses, and that will make them a tough prospect for the other four teams, each of which features a young lineup this spring.
Head coach Troy Ghisetti and his players are off to a 6-0 start, including winning all three of their games at the recent Crusader Classic and a very impressive doubleheader sweep at Kelseyville on Saturday.
The Tigers exploded for six home runs in Saturday’s sweep, including three grand slams, and they did it against what Ghisetti described as “very competitive” Kelseyville pitching.
If the Tigers can continue to play that effectively at the plate, they have ample pitching and defense to make things very difficult for the rest of the H-DNL.
Through their opening six games, they have outscored their opponents 73-4, including three shutouts in their last five outings.
“In 28 years, I have never seen an offense that stepped up like this for a doubleheader,” Ghisetti said after Saturday’s sweep.
Seniors Finn McRae, Nick Parker, Vincent Agliolo, Isaiah Levy and Alex Gorge have been playing together for years, both with the Tigers and the Northern Humboldt Giants, and they have lined up alongside each other in over 200 games, giving this core group a ton of experience.
Agliolo, Parker and McRae are each also among the best pitchers in the Big 5.
One of the few pitchers who appears capable of holding the Arcata bats in check is Eureka junior Myles Standish, who has impressed for the Loggers early in the season and gives head coach Jeff Giacomini a legitimate ace on the mound.
His teammate, senior Jackson Giacone, will play Division-I college ball at Cal State Fullerton after graduation and could be the most dangerous bat in the league this spring.
But whether the Loggers have the depth and experience after that to challenge the Tigers remains to be seen.
Submitted photo – Jared Dixon
The Fortuna Huskies are also young, having graduated eight seniors from last season, and they will rely heavily on four key returning juniors — Cole Ayala, Cody Collins, Rylan Lommori and Matt Letter — each of whom saw plenty of playing time as sophomores.
The question for head coach Andy Olsen and his players is how quickly a young pitching staff can come together.
Likewise at McKinleyville, where junior Riley Bates and sophomores Branson Dobrec and Evan Fraser have all shown plenty of promise on the mound.
Don’t underestimate the Panthers under head coach Scott St. John, whose teams are usually the most improved in league as the season progresses.
But again, it will be a huge task for this young team going up against the experienced Tigers.
Del Norte also is young, but has a strong experienced core group in seniors Jared Dixon and Isaac Arriola and juniors William Bommelyn, Brody Mattz and Ethan Thomas, all of whom have plenty of American Legion experience.
Heading into Wednesday’s league openers, the race for second looks like it could be very competitive, with little to separate the other four teams after Arcata.
There are two games scheduled for opening day, with the McKinleyville Panthers (6-3) playing the Loggers (4-6) at Bomber Field in Eureka and the Del Norte Warriors (3-2) traveling to Fortuna to play the Huskies (7-2).
Those four teams will play Saturday doubleheaders to close out their three-game series.
The Tigers have an opening-week bye and will play Fortuna next week.
