[youtube]https://youtu.be/Pbmh3hozg8k[/youtube]

The 2016 varsity boys baseball team has started practicing ahead of their season. With a good mix of veterans and young guys, Coach Gary Gustafson is confident in his team this year.

“We have a good mix of players, I think they all get along very well. We’ve been very focused in practice. I think that’s a big strength going into the season. The team is focused and practicing hard and going about things in a manner to get better everyday and feel good about themselves by the time we’re done with practice,” Gustafson said.

Gustafson and the Niles West Wolves have some very simple goals for the season ahead of them: compete and play hard.

“I never like to set win/loss goals or whether we’re going to win the conference or regionals. Our goal is to compete and play hard everyday. We practice like we play in games and we play in games like we practice. If we do that, good things will come our way throughout the season,” Gustafson said.

There are a lot of players that could shine this spring.

“There are a number of players on our ball club that I’m sure will have good years. We’ve got some seniors. Christos Tountas is our returning all-conference shortstop, Marvin Maldonado, senior pitcher. We also have Justin Gibson, who’s our senior second baseman. Jeremy Hoffman is our senior catcher, first baseman, and outfielder. Sam Rukin, is captain, along with Christos. Chris Baba, is a senior who will be back on the team after not playing last year. I just want to mention some of the seniors because I feel like it’s their team and their team to set by example through their work ethic, but we also have a good group of juniors and we have 3 sophomores that will certainly contribute to our team,” Gustafson said.

Captain Christos Tountas seemed to be on the same page.

“I’m very confident going into the season. I know that we have a great group of guys that are going to be fighting for each other to get that regional title. My goals for this season are to win against Niles North and get to conference and regionals,” Tountas said.

The varsity baseball team opens up their season on March 16th away against Lane Tech. Their home season opener