Pitching, Defense To Pace Pompano Beach

You would have thought a fire sale was going on over at Pompano Beach since the spring. The team lost its entire outfield, third baseman, catcher and three of its top four arms.

But those who think the Golden Tornadoes are soft this year have another thing coming. Pitching and defense are expected to be pluses for the team this spring, and manager Ryan Combs thinks it “will be real solid up the middle.”

Matt Fengler, a senior who batted .448 last year, drove in 30 runs and scored 21 as a middle-of-the-lineup hitter, returns at first base.

“He just had an unbelievable year last year and had a great summer,” Combs said of Fengler, who hit six home runs last season. Fengler said he plans on letting his play speak for itself.

“I just want to be a leader by what I do on the field and not trying to push kids,” he said. “If you push yourself, they’re going to push themselves because they just want to be at the same level you are.”

Garrett Hiott comes back at second base, and last year’s leadoff hitter, Shaw Pinnell will anchor second, bringing his .339 average from last spring.

Pinnell last season took care of the struggles at short stop last year, Combs said.

The Tornadoes, who went 12-11 last year and 4-2 in their district, have a hole to fill at third after the graduation of Kenny Harrell, who hit .286 and scored a team-leading 26 runs.

Graduation hurt the pitching staff as ace DJ Fenstermaker, Ryan Richman and Bobby Adkins left.

But Combs thinks the team will be solid in pitching this year as its led by Tyler Keller, a senior lefty who pitched the most innings last year (39.2) and led in strikeouts (55).

“He’s a good lefty, holds runners well, hopefully throws a lot of strikes, and I think we’re going to play good defense behind him,” Combs said.

Keller said he sees himself as being the main guy but knows he has a solid group with him on the mound.

“I think I’m probably going to be the number one pitcher, but we have me, [Brian] Dolan and Matt [Fengler] who are all pretty good left-handed pitchers, so I think we’re going to be set, plus we have a hard-throwing righty,” Keller said. “That’s [Andrew] Perez.”

Dolan, another returning lefty, pitched 17.1 innings and struck out 29 while posting a 2.42 ERA and a 3-0 record. Fengler also is a lefty and will be looked upon to pitch. Andrew Perez will pitch as well.

Offensive is the one area where the team needs to improve, Combs said. The team is concentrating on small ball and getting players to executive in certain situations and with runners in scoring position.

“I feel like we’re going to have good pitch and good defense and we’re going to have to execute on the offense,” he said. “I think that’s the team we’re going to be and that’s when baseball’s fun when you do the small stuff. I’m pretty excited about the pitching. It’s the offense that we’re working on. Defensively, we’re going to be tough, and offensively, we’re just going to produce.”

Christian Perez, Andrew’s twin brother, is a solid catcher, and “if he works hard behind the plate, he’s going to be real good,” Combs said.

Combs said the team is making the most of the fall season to develop players and figure out who’s going to start this spring and who will help add depth at certain spots.

“I like the fall, it’s kind of laid back, but still you gets guys out here,” he said. “You learn a lot about your guys, what they do in a game vs. what they do in a practice. With the Pokers and everything, everybody’s playing yearround anyway, but its good these guys get to come out and play together and get a good feel for each other.”

Combs said the fall is crucial for evaluating talent because its something that takes time to figure out.

“When I coached in college, our whole thing in college is the whole fall is a tryout and guys are getting an opportunity to try out because you can’t have a tryout for high school baseball in a week and figure out who your guys are. We get them out here and we play games and see what they do in situations and today we had a kid step up,” Combs said. “And that’s what we need. We need guys stepping up and we need different situations. I’m not giving a whole lot of signs. I’m just letting guys figure it out for themselves and we have to play with a brain. We don’t always play with a brain. If these guys figure it out, we can be dangerous. We’re going to be aggressive and put the ball in play. I’m pretty excited about it.”

Combs said the team already has its mind on its main district foe, American Heritage. Outside of a no-hitter by Heritage’s Shaun Anderson in the teams’ second meeting last year, the Tornadoes weren’t blown away by the Patriots. Heritage won all four meetings, including the district title game and regional semifinal.

“We battled them for four games last year,” Combs said. “They know each other. They play together. They’re not going to throw anything at us that we haven’t seen before. These guys are not intimidated in the slightest. We’re ready to come out. We were 0-3 going into that regional game, and DJ was dealing and we just had one fastball that ran back over the plate. They ran into it and we went up 4-2 to down 5-4 and that took the wind out of our sails. If we get guys stepping up and we do our jobs, we’re going to put pressure on people and make them make the plays. I think we have a good shot. I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully we see them four times again this year.”

Fengler said the team will go into the Heritage games with a good mindset.

“We’re going to come out firing on all cylinders,” he said. “If you make a mistake, they make you pay. They’re a good team, and it’s going to be fun. It’s going to fireworks.”

Keller said he “can’t wait to pitch against Heritage. Hopefully we play fundamental baseball and get a win. We have to make the plays. If we do that, we have a really have a good chance of beating them.”

Keller said the team can accomplish its goals because it already has accomplished the goal of establishing chemistry and camaraderie among the players, something that was lacking last year.

“We’re more of a team this year. We’re a group of friends,” he said. “When we play, we play as a team. We have a lot more team players who put the team before themselves unlike last year, so we’re going to be a better team this year.”

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