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Baseball: Lewisville looking for return to postseason
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
Lewisville senior shortstop Niko Buentello entered the 2013 season as Lewisville's program leader in homers.
The Oklahoma signee wasted little time adding to his total, parking three homers in the Farmers' season-opening win Feb. 21 against North Mesquite, 15-2.
Buentello and the Farmers have since improved their mark to 8-4 as they prepare to open District 5-5A competition at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Flower Mound.
"We expect to make the playoffs," said Mike Campbell, Lewisville head coach, who is entering his 39th season manning the Farmers bench. "We'll go from there, but it's going to be a tough district and competitive district with six teams."
Along with Buentello, players with varsity experience include Brian Deaver, Cory Duran (first team all-district last year), Alex English, Ryan Hammer, Parker Shoaf and Keith Bailey.
"The rest of the guys are up from junior varsity," Campbell said.
While the Farmers may not have the deepest of teams particularly at the plate (Lewisville will primarily use 10 hitters), Campbell is pleased with the versatility the Farmers have displayed early on and with a staff that has seen 10 pitchers take the mound thus far.
"They've all been throwing so far during the tournaments," Campbell said. "But I'm hoping we don't have to use quite that many guys during district."
Arms for the Farmers include Duran and Deaver as starters, while Matthew Nemecek and Jason Foley can also open games on the bump.
"Cory has really pitched well," Campbell said. "He had one bad start against Austin Westlake, but even that was really only one poor inning. But really all our guys have been doing a pretty good job."
Also featured on the mound will be Shoaf and Bailey.
"We don't really have a closer," Campbell added. "It will just depend on who is doing well and who we are facing. We just need guys who are consistent with throwing strikes."
Lewisville's pitchers will be throwing to Cameron Champagne, who will also see time at DH when not behind the plate.
"He seems to have a good rapport with the pitchers," Campbell said.
A large amount of Lewisville's experience is in the infield with Foley at first, Hammer at second, Buentello at short and Shoaf at third. Blake Arthurs also chips in on the corners depending on who is on the mound.
"The infield has been doing very well," Campbell said. "They have good chemistry and a good feel for each other."
Around the outfield are Duran in center and Deaver in right with Arthurs and Nemecek moving around depending on who is pitching.
"We have some speed in the outfield," Campbell said. "They can cover ground and they've also been getting a few assists early on."
English will primarily be Lewisville's designated hitter.
At the plate thus far, Buentello has paced the Farmers with four homers and 16 RBI on the season entering Friday.
"Deaver has been hitting well, too," Campbell said. "Hammer has been doing a good job of getting on base as our leadoff guy and Arthurs and English have been driving in runs. Foley has been a little up-and-down, but he's come up with big hits for us.
"I think we have more of a balanced lineup than last year and some versatility and that is going to make us tougher."
The challenge for Lewisville is finding consistency.
"If we can do that, I think we really have a chance to score some runs this year," Campbell said. "But it doesn't do us any good to score 11 runs in one game and then come back and score one the next when the pitching is pretty much the same."
As Campbell stated, Lewisville has plans on being one of the four teams from 6-5A to reach the postseason.
"Coppell is pretty highly-rated," Campbell said. "And Marcus and Flower Mound are playing well. Hebron is off to a good start, too, and Denton Ryan is pretty young, so they might struggle a bit early, but I think they'll come around."
Campbell, however, is a fan of the six-team district which allows the teams play each other three times in district, including one Saturday game.
"It's a little more like the playoff setup with how you manage your pitchers," he said.
The Farmers open against their rivals, following Tuesday's contest against Flower Mound with a matchup Friday at Marcus.
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