Rebuilding season in the books for West Orange baseball

WINTER GARDEN — In the moment, there was frustration.

The West Orange Warriors had dropped their district semifinal game against eventual-district champion Apopka, 4-1, after leaving 11 runners stranded on base.

The loss gave the rival Blue Darters a 2-1 season series edge over the host Warriors and, more importantly, ended the season for West Orange (16-10).

Beyond the disappointment of the moment, though, there is optimism as the Warriors emerge out of a rebuilding year with a good amount of success. Looking ahead to 2016, West Orange has several players who got significant on-the-job training this spring and are better off for it.

“Even though we came up short, it was awesome coaching this team this year,” head coach Jesse Marlo said. “That’s probably the best thing we did this year — they always went out and competed and always gave it their best.”

A lot of turnover in the offseason led to a lot of new faces in the Warriors’ lineup this spring — even among the program’s eight seniors.

“We had a lot of guys out there this year who were seniors that hadn’t played a whole lot in the past for us,” Marlo said. “They really stepped up this year and did an awesome job.”

As for the Warriors who will be returning, there is much to like. 

Players such as Ethan Jones, Tyler Baum, Kole Enright and Matt Coello all improved notably over the course of the season, Marlo said, and freshman pitcher Doug Nikhazy received valuable big-game experience often atypical to a freshman’s workload — including several innings of relief work in an extra-inning thriller against Olympia that was broadcast on local television.

Then, of course, there is Nate Schreckengost, arguably the team’s most valuable player this past spring. 

Nicknamed “Schreck” by teammates and Marlo, the junior first baseman/pitcher led the team in home runs and RBI while cutting down on his strikeouts — a particular area of concern during his sophomore season in 2014.

“He’s been a huge guy for us in the middle of the order,” Marlo said. “He really did a good job.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].