Andrew Mits is back. So is James De La O.
Mits and De La O were two of the three All-CIF players on last season’s Estancia baseball team that won the CIF Southern Section Division 6 championship. Mits was the CIF-SS Division 6 player of the year. The Eagles also won the CIF Southern California Regional Division V championship to finish a 31-5 season.
Estancia coming into this week was 10-2 overall and 3-1 in the Orange Coast League. The Eagles are No. 2 in the CIF-SS Division 5 Top 10 poll that has their league rival, Calvary Chapel, at No. 1.
Mits, a senior pitcher/second baseman, said this is no time to sit back and enjoy past glory.
“The goal is to never stay satisfied,” Mits said. “There’s always work to do.”
That includes pursuing the Orange Coast League championship that eluded Estancia last year. Orange won the league title last season. The Eagles tied with Calvary Chapel for second place.
And because of last season’s success Estancia has become a target for other teams.
“Everybody wants to play us now,” Estancia coach Nate Goellrich said. “So we have to come out with our ‘A’ game every day.”
De La O, a senior outfielder, leads the team in RBIs with 17. He drove in a team-high 41 runs last season. Junior infielder/outfielder John Uchytil is batting .537 with 27 hits and 14 RBIs.
Senior third baseman Cole Lefebvre, the Eagles’ leadoff batter, is hitting .447 with 14 RBIs and a team-high seven doubles. Sophomore shortstop Jake Humphries is hitting .406.
The team batting average is .377. Estancia has scored 101 runs to the opponents’ 21.
The right-handed Mits has a 4-2 record with three complete games and a 0.51 ERA. He has 36 strikeouts in 27.2 innings. Mits is batting .412.
Junior pitcher Mike Moyer is 5-0 with a 1.11 ERA and two complete games. He has 24 strikeouts in 38 innings.
So far, so good for Estancia.
“When we work together we’re really unstoppable,” Mits said. “Last year was great, but we have to remember…
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