By Vern Hee

Football, he can do it, you bet. Basketball, he can coach it. Baseball, no problem with that either, and oh, he is the athletic director, too.

Leo Verzilli is back and he is the head baseball coach this time. This will be his first year as the head baseball coach.

“I had a week to go from basketball to baseball. We had a rough few days of practice. We had a lot of work to do on the field. We worked on the mound and the nets. The boys earned some keep the first few days moving dirt around. We have 15 out for baseball this year, 13 boys and two girls,” said Verzilli.

According to Verzilli, the Title IX federal law stipulates girls can play baseball if the high school has no softball team.

Verzilli said one of the two girls, Breanna Rosas, came from California and has plenty of softball experience and will start for the Hornets.

“She does well. Rosas is home schooled and baseball is the only sport she plays,” said Verzilli. “She is a nice surprise. She plays shortstop, catcher, second base and pitcher. She can hit the ball, she stands right in there. She has one of the better hitting stances on the team. The other guys treat her well. She jokes with them and they respect her.”

At first base, the Hornets have Daniel Plascencia, Rosas will be playing second base, Jake Zamora will be playing shortstop, and Fortino Gonzalez will be playing third base. Luis Flores will be the catcher.

In the outfield, Levy Reed will play center, Joel Avila will play right and Chris Dunlap will play left field.

Verzilli said he has three pitchers. “We have three kids that throw hard. Jake Zamora can throw. We have a couple other kid’s Reed and Plascenia.”

On Friday, the Hornets saw action against the Tonopah Muckers for a league game. It was their first game of the season. They had no pre-season game and dropped the two games 12-2 and 10-0.

Verzilli said he needs better pitching from his starters.

Verzilli said Reed and Zamora both pitched. He said they both had three good innings before they started to walk men.

“Two many walks and then the Muckers can hit. They hit the ball and they had a home run. They had some shots. They hit the ball better than we did,” said Verzilli.

The Hornets are young. Many lack experience in baseball because they have no little league or pony league in Beatty.

“We have three or four returning players. Their baseball IQ needs improving. All this comes with experience and our kids don’t get exposed to baseball,” he said.

When asked if he will be better off than last year, Verzilli replied, “We have a lot of returning players this year and the infield is sound, as long as we don’t have to move some players around. We have a good starting lineup. Our weakness will be the pitching staff. We are pretty well-rounded. We had 22 last year, but not very skilled. This year we are doing better,” he explained.

Beatty plays Sandy Valley at home at 3 p.m. on Friday.

BHS Baseball Team 2013

Avila, Joel

Constanzo, Freddie

Dunlap, Christopher

Flores, Luis

Gonzalez, Fortino

Hanlon, Josephine

Henry, Wyatt

Josh, Hopper

Oliva, Elias

Perez, Carlos

Plascencia, Daniel

Reed, Levy

Rosas, Breanna

Zamora, Jake

Zamora, Nik