Warrior baseball grows in rebuilding year

Although Fallbrook High School’s baseball team missed the CIF playoffs for the first time this century, the rebuilding season of 2007 was considered a success by assistant coach Gary Carter.

“Success is based on a lot of different things,” Carter said. “I don’t base what success is off stats or wins and losses.”

Since the 2006 team which finished 27-6 won the Avocado League championship and reached the CIF finals while the 2007 team finished 12-17, including a 6-9 Avocado League mark which tied for fourth in the six-team league, the numbers indicated a downturn for the Warriors. Since the 2006 numbers also included 11 seniors, a major loss of the previous year’s talent was guaranteed for the 2007 team before the season started.

“We lost a lot of senior leadership, a lot of senior talent last year,” Carter said.

While that cost the Warriors the services of those 2006 seniors, it also allowed their replacements to develop. “What it was was an opportunity for some new kids,” Carter said. “They were given a chance to be able to come in and step up.”

The 2007 team included seven seniors, not all of whom were starters. Many of the starting seniors – as well as starting underclassmen – did not have those roles in 2006. “A lot of these boys were boys who were kind of in the background,” Carter said.

While two of the Warriors’ three primary starting pitchers of 2006 were on college baseball teams this year, 2007 senior Josh Peters took advantage of his new starting role by throwing a no-hitter March 15 against Escondido in the Hilltop-Lolita’s Tournament. The no-hitter was the first for a Fallbrook pitcher this century.

Carter also noted that the team made various lineup changes during the 2007 season in order to make improvements. “It can be frustrating, but at the same time it’s a process you have to take,” he said.

Carter notes that time is required for players to adapt to the varsity level. “They’re going to take that experience,” he said.

Carter noted that some elements were sacrificed in 2007 to build the team for the future. “We had to build this year to get there,” he said. “Next year they’re going to be a lot better team.”

Although the leadership from 2006 was no longer present, the 2007 players picked up each other when needed. “You have your tough times, you have your good times, and we deal with all that together as a team,” Carter said.

“This is a group of boys that really enjoyed each other. They all got along,” Carter said. “It was a great group of kids. We had a good time, a good year.”