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Preseason Countdown: No. 42 Ponderosa

January 31, 2015

By John Cackowski
State Director

Leading up to the start of the high school season, we will count down the top 50 preseason teams every day as part of our comprehensive season coverage. The top 50 teams are picked from all classifications, and are not divided up by class level:

Team: Ponderosa
Preseason Rank: 42
2014 Record: 9-10
Conference: Continental
CHSAA Class: 4A (Play in 5A Continental League)
Head Coach: Bob Maloney
Playoff Run: Lost in District Championship game to Durango
2014 Final Rank: 55

Returning Starters: 10
Returning Pitchers: 3

TOP PLAYERS:
Alan Jeanjaquet, OF, 2015
Bryan King, LHP, 2015
Kian Kagen, SS, 2015
Andrew Coleman, 3B, 2015
Mitch Halloran, 3B, P, 2016
Parker Eischen, 1B/OF, 2016
Ryder Ghidotti, C, 2016

X-FACTOR:
After Bryan King, the Mustangs return only 20 innings pitched from 2014. Out of those 20 innings, 54 hits were given up to go with 23 earned runs.
 
PLAYER TO WATCH:
Parker Eischen: 6-foot-1 175 lbs. 1B/OF. Bats left throws left. Tall athletic stance at plate with slightly open stance. Long load with quick hands to ball with quick. Athletic first baseman with good footwork around bag. Accurate arm. Last year as a sophomore had a productive year with 66 AB's hitting .400. leading the team with 15 runs scored.

KEY PLAYER LOST:
Al Chapman: Graduated 

STAT RAT: 
The Mustangs played a lot of close games in 2014. Out of their 10 losses, 6 came by 2 runs or less.  

BOTTOM LINE:
Long time Douglas County assistant Bob Maloney takes over as Head Coach from Jarod Nicholson who moved into an administrative position at Ponderosa. Nicholson brought a unique style of small-ball to the Mustangs. It will be interesting to see what the style of play will be like under Maloney. Maloney has 355 returning at-bats from 2014, 170 of them coming from sophomores Parker Eischen, Thomas Green, Ryder Ghidotti, and Mitch Halloran. Also returning is No. 23 2015 Bryan King who is one of the best left-handed pitchers in the state. In 2014 King went 4 and 1 in 45.2 innings, striking out 60 and posting a 3.22 E.R.A. Also returning is OF Alan Jeanjaquet. Jeanjacquet hit .448 in 2014 leading the Mustangs in BA, Hits (26), RBI's (15) and Doubles (8). He will be asked to anchor the lineup again in 2015. If the Mustangs can find some more support on the mound after King then they will have a strong chance to make a deep 4A playoff run.

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