Sailors try to make it work

At times last year, filling the lineup card for the Newport Harbor High baseball team proved troublesome.

Coach Evan Chalmers just didn’t have enough bodies.

Ten to pick from, with no breaks for pitchers, not much late-game strategy, the pinch hitter and pinch runner, they didn’t exist.

Now they do. Chalmers has 16 players to work with this season, almost enough to scrimmage, let alone compete.

The season is already off to a success.

The Sailors won their first two games of the season, beating Elsinore and La Habra in the Foothill bracket at the Newport Elks Tournament. Three games into the season and Newport Harbor (2-1) is three wins away from matching last season’s win total.

Talk about a turnaround. Chalmers is hoping it continues, allowing everyone to forget about last year’s 5-20 overall record, 1-14 in the Sunset League.

Chalmers just has to look around in his third year at Newport Harbor. No more having to count before a game to know he has a team.

“We’ve got numbers,” said an excited Chalmers, adding that the junior varsity team has 15 players and the frosh/soph 14 this season. “What happened [last year], one guy was academically ineligible, two guys were out, our best player quit, and another decided to play rugby. All of a sudden we’re thin.”

The only place Newport Harbor is light at is experience. Seven players return, but three of those are sophomores.

Chalmers is high on the trio. He said to look out for Dillan Freiberg, who had a brief call up last year. The left-handed pitcher is slated to start, joining right-handed seniors RJ D’Cruz and Patrick Brennan on the staff.

D’Cruz was the team’s workhorse last year, eating up 71 1/3 innings. Brennan pitched 45 innings.

“[D’Cruz] pitched more innings that any pitcher in the Sunset League,” said Chalmers, a reason why Newport Harbor struggled with no pitching depth, finishing sixth in league.

Starters won’t be expected to pitch a lot this season. Chalmers just wants them to last around four innings before giving way to the bullpen. This is a relief compared to last year. Junior Cody Green will be the closer.

If the offense produces the way it did last year, Green won’t probably see many save opportunities.

The Sailors averaged just above four runs per game last season. Chalmers is counting on more production. None of the returnees, which include senior Eric Bonn, sophomore Jacob McCann, senior Ben Frazier and sophomore Jack Grace, hit above .300 last season.

Junior Alex Rios, a 6-foot-6, 200-pounder, is up from JV and will play first.

“He should provide a big stick for us and we will be able to score more runs this year because we have guys that are stronger and athletic,” said Chalmers, whose Sailors are still a ways away from becoming the first Harbor team to qualify for the playoffs since 1990.

“Our sophomore and junior classes are big [with five players each]. So I know we’ll have enough [players] for next season, too.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].