This year, as they prepare to face those same Lions to open the postseason this Friday and Saturday, that nervous bunch is now a playoff-tested group.
“It’s definitely different this year,” junior catcher Francisco “Chicago” Figueroa said. “Last year, nobody but our senior AJ Mendiola and then-junior Manny Sanchez had playoff experience. We were nervous, but after going as far as we did last year, we’re pretty confident.”
The Warriors carry seven juniors on the team and just three seniors.
They finished in second place in District 32-3A with a 9-3 district record, falling only to Falfurrias during the year.
While the players have shaken off their nerves and have beat the Lions in the playoffs before, Warriors head coach Steve Mendoza, naturally, doesn’t want his team counting their chickens just yet.
“We’re more of an experienced ballclub,” Mendoza said. “We started a lot of freshmen two years ago, but now we’re junior heavy. We need to respect our opponents because we are junior-heavy but we still have to play the ball game.”
Junior shortstop Leo Lara agreed and said that the Warriors have come a long way since the beginning of the season, but so have the Lions, who have seven players returning from last year.
“We have seen a lot of improvement from everyone and we have some sophomores that are pretty good, and, overall, we’re a pretty good ballclub,” Lara said. “I’m sure Kingsville is strong and I’m sure they have returning players. We are just going to have to out there and compete and hopefully, make it to the next round.”
The Warriors certainly have the team to get it done, both Figueroa and Lara are batting better than .500 and senior Manny Sanchez is batting better than .600 this year.
On the mound, Mendoza has depth behind ace sophomore pitcher Eleuterio Perez, who has 49 strikeouts this year and a 5-1 record.
All the parts are there, and despite not wanting to be over confident, Mendoza won’t deny Santa Rosa has the tools to make a run to the third round if the team avoids mistakes.
It’s somewhere they haven’t been since Mendoza’s first season at the helm in 2007-08.
“Back-to-back playoff appearances have put us in a good spot to get passed the second round,” Mendoza said. “However, getting out of that round is tough with such a strong region with teams like Bishop and Banquete. We have the players to do it.
“We went two rounds last year and this year we want to go three or four, but we play the game day by day.”