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Aztecs looking for return to baseball’s ‘glory days’

By Brian Gomez

Having guided Corona del Sol High School’s varsity baseball program for more than two decades, Ron Davini has undergone more highs and lows than some coaches experience in an entire lifetime.

He has coached teams with an enormous amount of perseverance, like the 1993 squad, which marked 22 of its 24 wins by one run on route to the school’s only state championship.

He has coached teams that caught bad breaks at the worst times, similar to the 1998 Aztecs, who had the potential to go the distance but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Mesa Mountain View, the eventual state champions.

And he has coached teams that never lived up to their expectations, like last year’s group, which won 10 of 13 games to start the season before going on a torrid three-week span of inconsistency and eventually being eliminated from the first round of the state tournament.

Davini has lofty goals for this year’s team, which returns 11 players and should have adequate depth to make some noise in the always-competitive Central Region. But he doesn’t know just how far Corona is capable of traveling on the arduous road back to prominence.

“You always wish you knew this would be the year,” said Davini, who has compiled a 363-302-6 record in 25 years at the helm.

“It’s something you wished you knew about, but you just take one day at a time.”

Corona’s biggest challenge early in the season will be to find a way to replace a talented senior class that included first-team all-state selection Nate Combs, honorable mention All-State pick Matt Michael and Joe Selleh Award winner Brian Smith, among others. With 57 players vying for no more than 18 spots on the varsity team, Davini figures to have enough candidates to fill the voids.

“We’re going to be all right,” Davini said. “We have enough returners back at positions to help us. We’ll hold our own.”

The Aztecs have a wealth of senior leadership among their infielders with first-team all-region catcher Josh Tarnow, third baseman Russell Teames and shortstop Ben Rodriguez, who was named the team’s Most Improved Player a year ago during a season in which he also earned second-team all-region accolades.

First-team all-region senior Mike Pollak will be backed up at first base by junior Chris Rodriguez, the younger brother of Ben Rodriguez.

Senior Eric Gundry expects to start at second base. He may occasionally share time with junior Eric Smith, Corona’s leadoff hitter and primary left fielder, who etched his name in the Central Region record books as a sophomore by getting plunked by five pitches throughout the course of the season.

Junior Kyle Chilton should get the nod in center after moving around the outfield last year.

Seniors Bevan Anderson and K.C. Kaiser are the team’s main right fielders.

“I don’t think we have as much power as we had last year,” Davini said.

“This ball club will be a gap-to-gap ball club. We’re going to have to manufacture a lot of runs.”

Second-team All-Region senior right-hander Scott Gurley will anchor a pitching staff that consists of Anderson, Pollak, Chris Rodriguez, senior Brett Nenaber and junior Chris Reap.

Senior right-hander Braden Johnson might serve as Corona’s closer.

“It’s a big loss not having Matt Michael, but other than that, we have the same pitching,” Davini said.

“That’s basically the only person we’re missing on the mound.”

High hopes turned out to be fool’s gold last year for the Aztecs, who dropped three consecutive games to close the season and were promptly eliminated from the state playoffs by Phoenix Goldwater.

Although Pollak was credited with the loss, Davini placed the blame on himself.

“It’s my job as a coach to turn kids around and to get things going in the right direction,” Davini said. “The kids worked hard, they played hard and we didn’t get any breaks, but if I can’t turn them around as a head coach, there’s something wrong with me. I’ve got to improve.”

Corona set new school records last year for the most at-bats (939), hits (319) and home runs (28) in a single season. Davini hopes his team can come close to matching those kinds of numbers this spring.

“We’re going to try to be the best we can as we get down to the end of the season,” he said. “Maybe this time, we won’t lose all those games at the end.”

Other faces on the bench

Corona’s varsity coaching staff includes Leon Amaro, Cory Nenaber, the brother of Brett Nenaber, and David Webb, the son of Arizona Coaches Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Webb. Junior varsity head coach David Himmelstein is assisted by Scott Centanni and freshman head coach Sean McDonald is assisted by Kevin Krahenbuhl, who played at Corona from 1997-2000.

Up next

The Aztecs were scheduled to open their season at 3:45 p.m. Feb. 21 with a home scrimmage against Phoenix Greenway. They will then begin a homestand with games versus Mountain View (3:45 p.m. Feb. 26), Glendale Mountain Ridge (3:45 p.m. Feb. 28), Mesa Westwood (12 p.m. March 1) and Tempe High (3 p.m. March 1).

Rules changes

Several minor rules changes will go into effect this season. One of the more notable ones provides that catchers’ helmets must be attached in one piece, similar to the ones worn by hockey goalies.

Separate batting helmets and catchers’ masks are no longer permitted. The new helmets, which cost school districts from $100 to $200, have to be tailored to fit a catcher’s specific dimensions. They must also be replaced on an annual basis if they’re not properly sanitized.

“When I was a young man, all I had to do was rub it on my pants and it was clean,” Davini said.

“Young catchers break out when they don’t clean their masks. You can’t get in there and clean it really well.”

A look back at 2002

Corona was 20-13 overall last season with a 7-5 mark in region play…The Aztecs, who finished in second place in the Central Region, entered the state tournament as the No. 2 seed…They claimed the No. 7 spot in the Arizona Baseball Coaches Association’s final poll…Corona’s JV team went 13-7 and its freshman squad compiled a 9-11 mark.

Davini keeps busy during the off-season

Over the summer, Davini participated in the USA Baseball Youth Team Trials in Tucson, along with Phoenix Brophy Prep’s Tom Succow and Mesa Skyline’s Garye LaFevers. They have again been selected to participate in this year’s event.

What they’re doing now

Michael and Brian Smith both are playing at Phoenix’s Grand Canyon University. Combs is redshirting this season at Central Arizona College in Coolidge.

Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@wranglernews.com.

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