Alamo Heights junior Preston Whitley is being counted on to anchor the pitching staff of this year’s Mules baseball team. Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer

Alamo Heights’ varsity baseball head coach Stan Gideon has a good feeling about the Mules prospects this season. Despite losing several key players from last year’s District 27 4-A Regional semi-finalist team, he says this team has what it takes to succeed.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces,” said Gideon, now in his ninth year as head coach. “Looking at our lineup, six of the nine starters are first-year varsity players. A couple of the other guys were on the varsity, but weren’t everyday players.”

Gone from last year’s squad are second-team All-State pitcher Randol Tellkamp, All-District outfielders Adam Bridgman and Shay Hisle, and second-team All-District first baseman Connor Cook. Catcher Charlie Thaddeus and first baseman Blake Honigbloom base will surely be missed, as will several others.

“You’re talking about a lot of key positions and guys hitting at 1, 3 and 5 … a big part of the order,” Gideon said. “So I think a lot of people think, by knowing what we’ve lost, that we’re going to be a little down this year but I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think we might be flying under the radar right now and when we get there (the district schedule), we’re going to be okay.”

The 2008 Mules started the season off strong, with a third-place finish in their own Gaylord Fenley Tournament recently. They dropped a game at Pleasanton on Tuesday Feb. 26, before splitting their four games on the road in the Nacogdoches Tournament.

“We had a good first week,” Gideon said. “We won four of six and the two that slipped away were the two last night (Madison and Bastrop on Friday) and those were very tight, good ballgames. So even though we have new faces I think the level of play is where it has been around here.”

Although young, the Mules do have some returning talent on the field. Junior pitcher Preston Whitley is poised to take Tellkamp’s number-one spot in the rotation and senior Mundo Sanchez is back at catcher. They both earned second-team All-District honors last season. Sanchez also pitches for the Mules, as do sophomores Luke Maloy and Michael Almquist, although the starting rotation isn’t yet set, Gideon said.

The other three seniors on the roster, Nick Amick, David Rodriguez and Danny Yancelson are starting at center field, first base and shortstop, respectively. Yancelson comes over from second base this year while Amick and Rodriguez are set to get their first serious playing time on the varsity.

Sophomores are set to play a big part in this year’s team.

“Mike Warren is a sophomore and he’s starting at third base,” Gideon said. “At second base, we’re playing T.P. Loftus – he’s a new varsity player just like Warren. We’re also playing Zach Cleveland some at second base. If Sanchez is pitching then we’re starting sophomore Chris Bennert at catcher. He’s been doing a good job behind the plate. Luke Maloy is a sophomore in right field.

Trent Jones, a junior, is starting in left field while fellow juniors Luke Campbell, Will Nash and Adam Carreon round out the varsity roster.

The Mules are currently in the midst of a stretch that has them playing 18 games in a 19-day span. They will begin District 27-4A play at home against Fredericksburg March 20.

Coach Gideon said that Kerrville Tivy, who won the district last year and is returning both of their better pitchers this season, will be the team to beat but also sees Boerne as a formidable foe once again.

“It’s Boerne and Tivy at the top and we’re right there, us and Fredericksburg and Kennedy fighting to see who falls in next,” Gideon said. “We feel good about our chances. We’ve made the playoffs six of the last seven years, so we’re expecting to do it again.”