Baseball, 2-3, overall, plans to win the league again after last year’s successful season, said senior Dylan Johnson, a captain alongside seniors Alejandro Rodriguez, Damian Santos, and junior True List. 

The team will face the Loyola Cubs today at 3 p.m., who the team has won against in the past even though the team has faced challenges early on in their season compared to previous years, Rodriguez said, 

“This year is a different year, we are trying to make our own statement,” he said.

Having lost 16 seniors last year the team has been working to build the team back up.

“We had a great season last year, those seniors left big shoes to fill,” Rodriguez said. 

“Those seniors were the core of our team last year,” said Johnson.

However, that is not the only adjustment the team has had to make this season. Senior Xander Lippman, who’s out due to injury, leaves Johnson being the only healthy returning starter this season. 

“It’s hard not to notice a difference,” Johnson said. 

There have also been new additions to the team that factor in, said Johnson.

“It’s been a grind having to teach a group of players all the signs and the way we do things from scratch since most of them are new to the varsity level,” said Johnson. 

Despite all of this the team is hopeful.

“It will take time to adapt to the environment but eventually everyone will start to lock in,” Rodruiguez said. 

The Gondoliers faced the Downey Vikings this past Wednesday resulting in a 8-0 loss.

“We just have to keep hitting at practice, working on our defensive chemistry,” said Jonhson. 

Some notable challenges the team faced against Downey was their pitcher. 

“They had a solid guy on the bump, which made it difficult to find a good pitch to hit,” Rodruiguez said.

Although the match with Downey was a hard one, Rodriguez said List and Cumming both had hits during the game, closer Ruvalcaba shut them down only allowing one run.