Mules’ senior center fielder Nick Amick slides safely into second base during the first inning of their tournament game against San Antonio Christian. Alamo Heights went on to win the game, 7-6. Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer

Eighteen baseball games in 20 days is a tough schedule for any team, but it’s something the Alamo Heights Varsity team expects pretty much every year.

To a player, however, they’ve got to be happy that the schedule will soon be getting back to normal.

Normal is the key word here, and if anything can be gleaned from the team’s 9-7 record it’s just that. The boys are right on schedule. Last season the Mules were 12-8 going into district play.

“We’re very, very similar to where we are in most years at this point,” said head coach Stan Gideon

Gideon always puts together a daunting schedule for his team and this year is no exception. He feels that if the team can handle itself against rugged competition then they’ll be all the more prepared for the start of district play.

The Mules technically finished tied for third place in this last week’s Alamo Heights Tournament with their 7-7 game against Judson, but ties don’t count in baseball. “As far as I’m concerned it just disappears,” Gideon said.

After splitting the two practice games with Granbury and Wagner, the Mules came back to polish off San Antonio Christian, 7-6, in the opening game of their tournament. A tough 6-4 loss to Judson put them into the consolation game against Granbury where they rallied from a five-run hole to take a 7-6 lead in the fifth inning. The Pirates then punched across another run in the top of the sixth and the game ended because of a time limit.

“I thought the tournament was good for us because we’re a young ball club and we need as much experience as we can get before the (district) games start,” Gideon said.

Experience is a valuable commodity to have on any sports team, and this year’s young squad is relying on its senior leadership to show them the ropes.

“Last year we started off somewhat shaky,” said Mundo Sanchez, who pitches, plays catcher and is one of the four seniors on the team. “Then in the playoffs we kept on rolling and we kept on winning.

“We just keep playing. It’s still a little bit early so if we keep playing we’ll be all right,” Sanchez said. “We’re pretty confident with out team right now. We have a lot of young people but they’re doing pretty well. Everyone’s contributing, doing their part.”

The Mules have a home game against South San tonight at 7:30 sandwiched between two long road trips to Alice and Uvalde, the latter a double-header. District play starts on March 20 with a home game against Fredericksburg.