Seniors lead Portales baseball team

link Staff photo: Derek Major

Centerfielder Darin Bonem stands in the cage and takes a few hacks during last Thursday’s practice at Ram Field. Bonem missed most of last season due to a knee injury, but still led the Rams in homeruns. The Rams will begin their 2015 season Tuesday at Clovis High School.

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Last year Dustin Nusser, in his first year of being the manager of the Portales baseball team, took a young team with just two seniors to the Class 3A state quarterfinals.

Now, Nusser wants the Rams to take the next step.

“We have nine seniors this year, which is good to have,”

Nusser said of the Rams, who open the season with a 5 p.m. game Tuesday at Clovis.

“These guys have been through the program for four years. That definitely helps; they understand what we want from them and the expectations are pretty high this year.”

But there’s plenty of experience among the younger players as well.

“We have better chemistry this year, it’s coach Nusser’s second year so we know what to expect,” said junior pitcher and infielder Grant Wagner who went 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA last year. “We’re pretty excited, everyone is energetic and ready to go.”

Nusser said Wagner and others will need to step in to replace the voids left by Daniel Sanchez and Jarret Faust.

“We have sophomore Kersey Burnett, who pitched well for us in the summer, also Ray Ornelas, a senior and Draven Saiz who will do some pitching too,” said Nusser. “That’s one good thing about our pitching, we have some good depth this year.”

At the plate the Rams return senior Matt Martinez, who hit .398 with five doubles and a team-high 29 RBIs.

Omar Legarda led the team in hitting last year with a .411 average and a team-high 10 doubles, A big returner for the Rams is Darin Bonem, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, but was still tops with two homers and second on the team with a pair of triples.

Since teams have started using wood bats, runs come at a premium and as a result Nesser likes to get his team moving on the basepaths.

“Using wood bats, we don’t have a lot of home runs so we’re aggressive in the bases,” Nusser said. “So we’ll bunt, we’ll ht and run, we’ll steal second ... any way we can get a guy to second base is what we’re trying to do.”

Bonem is excited for the upcoming campaign, as he hopes to make up for lost time.

“I want to lead this team to be as good as we can be,” said Bonem, who hit .500 in 11 games before he was sidelined. “So when game time comes around we can do well and be successful this year."

The Rams will play in the Eunice tournament March 19-21 and will host their own tournament March 27 -29.

Fast facts

Portales Rams baseball

• Coach: Dustin Nesser (2nd season 16-13)

• 2014: 16-13, lost in state quarterfinals to Silver

• Offense: The 2014 Rams scored 7.2 runs per game. Top returners, Omar Legarda .411, 10 2B; Matt Martinez .398, 5 2B.

• Defense: The 2014 Rams allowed 6.0 runs per game, 83 errors. Top returning pitchers, Grant Wagner 4-1, 2.31 ERA.

Source:Derek Major