The Air Academy High School baseball team has high expectations coming into the 2024 spring baseball season and a huge reason for that is the experience that the team has returning. They are coming back from a Vegas trip where they split games and went 2-2 in their tournament where they were playing very good teams. This gives them momentum with their first game being against Pueblo West on March 7th.
“This Vegas tournament was huge for us, it’ll help us improve as a team and help us be better prepared for our upcoming season,” senior Tyler Morales exclaimed.
The preseason work and offseason workouts are helping the team be better prepared for their first double header in a couple of weeks. They will sometimes have workouts before school at 5 am whether it is weight lifting or technique work. The hard work and early morning are a key reason why they have a lot of goals for this upcoming season.
Last season, the Kadets had a record of 9-15 and an appearance in the state tournament. They had a league record of 5-5 which helped them secure the 32 seed in the state tournament. The team ended the season on a high note by almost beating the number one overall seed in the 5A baseball tournament, Broomfield.
This also gives them momentum going into this spring season with most of the players on last year’s team being juniors or underclassmen. By the upcoming classes being the same as last year’s roster ultimately benefits them tremendously for this upcoming season considering that the team has already worked with each other in the past.
“Before I start my collegiate career, I would like to win a state championship or at least get close to one,” senior Frank Florres stated.
One of the key players coming back this season is Florres. He is one of the three pitchers on the team. When he is not pitching, he is playing in the infield. In November, Florres signed with Colorado State Pueblo to continue his baseball career.The one thing he would like to do before his high school career is over is to win a state championship in May.
“I am very confident coming into this season. We have a lot of talent and a lot of experience. I feel like the sky’s the limit for us going into our first game of the season,” senior Sean Kramer expressed.
The experience coming back is big for the team and will only help them as the season progresses. They only lost two seasons from last year’s team and have a very solid senior class for this year. The experience they have will help them make a deep run into the postseason come playoff time in a couple of months.
The expectations and hype could not be bigger for this year’s baseball team, and the key reason for that is talent and chemistry. With the talent they posses and the talent they have leading them, they have a very good chance to achieve all they want to for this upcoming season.
