CNMI baseball sets sights on Mini Games

The pride of CNMI baseball to the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games rests on the shoulders of a young but very energetic squad that is itching to compete for a medal.

During an interview Monday, head coach Jason Gay explained that the age range for players on the team is between 17 and 26 years of age, which he says translates into a very energetic cast.

“I’m sure the boys are ready,” he said. “They’re excited and for so long they’ve been waiting to go and now it’s here. We got a good range of young players, which helps us. We’re fast and we’ve got a lot of energy. We just need to control all that energy and focus it on the baseball field.”

The team has been working hard with practice sessions at the Oleai Sports Complex for the past six months, five of which Gay said featured very limited field work due to the unavailability of the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field, which also hosted the Saipan Major League and the Junior, Senior, and Big leagues.

“Now that the leagues have stopped, we got access to the field and our hitting gets to see some live pitching,” he said. “Hitting is going well and the guys are learning and especially trying to work the opposite field. Now that we can see a little more live pitching, they’re doing well.”

When not using the field, the squad has worked in the hitters batting cage, as well as worked on physical conditioning.

The team currently works out five days a week, getting weekends off to spend time with their families.

Gay explained that things are heading in a positive track, however, weather conditions has hampered the training the past few days.

“So far, it’s going pretty well,” Gay said. “I’m pretty happy with what we have going on right now. The only thing that’s hurting us right now is the weather. Its been raining the past couple of days and it hurts us on practice time, but I’m pretty confident in what we have going over there to do a good job.”

Gay added that in their most recent scrimmage game, the team went off for 17 hits, which he hopes they can carry over to Palau.

Meanwhile, Gay said six players, namely John Paul Flores, Frank Hocog, Jon Tenorio, Craig Sanchez, Byrone Kaipat, and veteran Kaleb Dulei, have the task of working from the mound.

“I wish I had one or two more, but we look alright,” he said. “It’s not as dominant as I thought it would, so we’re going to have to do a lot of change in speeds and hitting corners.”

As for team chemistry, Gay said all players have known each other for quite some time already and have experienced playing along side each other, or against each other, in leagues in the past.

“The boys have been playing together or against each other all their lives and a lot of them have been in all-star teams together, so I’m not really worried about the chemistry of the boys playing together,” he said. “They know each other.”

The team is also made up of sluggers Joey Dela Cruz, Tyrone Omar, Ben Jones, Luis Iguel, Dwight Quitano, Clifton Silil, Pete Tomokane, Tony Celis, Matt Kintol, Jerome Delos Santos, and Jester Garcia.