Maranatha baseball waits for postseason fate

The Maranatha Christian Academy in 4S Ranch is waiting to see if its baseball team will make its second postseason appearance in school history.

The Eagles, who were 7-2 with one game to go in the Frontier League, expected to finish second in the league behind San Diego’s High Tech High.

Coach Phil Thompson said he hopes the team’s record, its tough schedule and the fact that them was co-league champion last year are enough for the team to be included in the CIF Section Division IV tournament brackets when they are released on Saturday.

The team, whch has been playing varsity for three years, made its postseason debut last year, where it played top-seeded Coronado in their first game.

Usually, only the conference champion gets an automatic berth into the playoffs, though there are four open slots on the brackets, Thompson said.

“This year we played our toughest schedule, including 10 teams that were in the playoffs last year,” Thompson said. “Our record isn’t as good, but the strength of the schools we played might make the difference in getting us into the playoffs.

The team has been playing strong baseball, said Thompson, adding that the Eagles are bolstered by the presence of three seniors, part of the school’s first class, who will be playing collegiate ball upon graduation.

Pitcher Erik Weatherford, who’s called “Big Poppa” on campus, has an ERA of 3.71 and is batting around .385, Thompson said, adding that the senior is deciding whether to play at Cal Poly Pomona or Master’s College in Santa Clarita.

Christian Harper, a centerfielder, will be playing ball at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, while shortstop Cody White is playing football and baseball at Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa. As Maranatha, most of the colleges the players are considering are Christian.

“These kids could probably play in any program,” he said, “but they wanted to play for the Lord.”

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Posted by unestidstwern on May 20 2010. Filed under Archive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry