Sophomore Carter Paine pitched six innings to get the win over North High on Wednesday. File photo by Devin Carson

The Maricopa High School baseball team hopes to even up its record at Vista Grande tonight.

Thanks to a couple of tough tournaments, the Rams got through the first half of its season with at 7-8.

What’s important to head coach Andrew Pollak is the power point, which figures into whether the team makes the playoffs. In the first four of those games, the Rams went 3-1.

“We’re excited about that,” Pollak said.

He said his team has been swinging the bats well, and pitching has been diverse with an array of hurlers to choose from.

Defense, on the other hand, has been sketchy.

“We don’t know what to attribute it to,” Pollak said. “Four of seven innings, we’ll be really good, and then we’ll let in runs. We’re working on avoiding those big innings.”

Of the Rams who have played 10 or more games the first half of the season, senior Christian Garcia leads the batting with a .425 average. He has 17 hits, included three triples. Sophomore Carter Paine also has 17 hits and is batting .386. Junior Marcos Cano is batting .375 and leads the team in runs batted in with 16.

Christian Garcia. Photo by  William Lange
Christian Garcia. Photo by William Lange

Top pitchers have been Paine (3.00 ERA), senior Tyler Rapp (3.76) and junior Jackson Stensgard (5.25). The Rams have also had a couple of freshmen on the mound and the Belcher twins, Taylor and Tyler.

“We haven’t really played our best baseball yet,” the coach said. That gives them some confidence as they head into more difficult section play.