Southridge As Talented & Dangerous As Any

There is plenty of reason for the Southridge baseball team to be so excited for this season. The Spartans are coming off a strong year in 2014, and they return a very deep and experienced roster with nine seniors and eight juniors. The team pitches, hits and plays strong defense, and it as every bit the contender that they are regarded as.

The club is coming off a disappointing loss in the district quarterfinals last season, and they are hungry to erase that memory and write a new history for the program.

“We are definitely very excited looking into this year,” Spartans Manager Ed Doskow said. “Just the fact that South Dade won last year gave our guys a little extra kick in our step knowing that somebody from our district can win it. We felt we were just as good as they were last year, and that one day it just didn’t work for us. So we have continued to work hard and hopefully we can be the ones winning the state title this year.”

The team plays in a very strong district, but that just makes them stronger. The club has lost some guys to transfers and sometimes in districts they are lining up against guys who live across the street from each other. So it is an extra incentive to go out there and work a little bit harder.

“If you look at the history of our program and our records you will see that every year we are there at the end,” Doskow said. “We have put ourselves in a position to be right there, whether we have won the ball game or not. So we just keep working and tell our guys to continue to look at themselves and us as coaches on how we can work and get better.”

The team is especially deep in the pitching staff, which is a nice problem to have. Juniors Austin Dreher and Ryan Margolis are competing to be the top guy in the rotation, and it has been a good and healthy competition between them. There are a lot of experienced arms on the staff, and many position plays can also pitch if needed. The bullpen has another added spark with the return of Victor Feliz, a guy who throws hard and who throws strikes.

The strength of the defense is the outfield group, a unit that is playing its third year in a row together in the outfield. Doskow admits he may have the best outfield group in the state, if not the country in seniors Diandre Amion, Josten Heron and Arlain Sesin. It is a college-level outfield corps, as all three of these guys are part of an impressive class of six seniors who have already signed. Amion is headed to Alabama State, Heron to Bethuna-Cookman and Sesin to Miami-Dade College.

It was a big and special moment for the club to have so many signees this fall, as Jamar Criss signed to Coppin State, Austin Peterson to Hillsboro Community College and Julian Rivera to Richmond College. The remaining seniors will also likely sign.

Part of the success on the field as well as in sending guys to college comes from the dedication of the coaching staff. Doskow is surrounded by Southridge alums that have been with the program for decades. Steve Rogers has been on staff since 1981, his brother Jim Rogers has helped off and on since 1980, and Coach David Houtz is also a Southride graduate.

“There is on doubt that part of the reason we have success is because those guys are there,” Doskow said. “They bleed red, silver and black, and without those guys our program would never exist and be the way we are. It is because of their effort and their heart and desire about that school. It’s something special when you graduate from Southridge High School, and our alumni night we had 46 alumni return to play in the game this year.”

An added bit of excitement comes in the family atmosphere that is fueled by this year’s roster. Senior Garrett Houtz is the son of Assistant Coach Houtz, and meanwhile a newcomer to the club is freshman EJ Doskow, the skipper’s son.

“I paced myself so that I would be able to coach my son, which is a great thrill,” Doskow said. “Our opening night in preseason he earned the right to start after hitting the ball well in the fall. He started the opener and he got himself a base hit against Ferguson, which was a treat to be in the dugout to watch him perform. It is something special; there is no doubt about it.”

The Spartans are excited and focused. They know they are close, and just need to keep working and improving. The big thing they are working to improve it to get the timely ht when they need it most. They spent extra time hitting in the cages and off the tee, and they are focused more on driving the ball up the middle. Their home field at Southridge does not allow for many home runs anyway, so they want to stress hitting the other way and hitting behind the runners. They expect to be there again in the end, and a hit to the opposite field just may be what starts some magic happening for them this season.

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