St. Joseph baseball team is preparing for district play

Things are different for St. Joseph.

With just three teams in their district, the Bloodhounds don’t normally start TAPPS 4-5A play until mid-April. That leaves a two-month period where everyone else is busy with districts and the Bloodhounds are searching for games to keep themselves in tune.

"It’s tougher where you start out with quite a few games then all of a sudden you kind of settle," coach John Paz said. "It’s good when you have anyone that’s injured, like we have a couple players injured, to have those guys healed. But at the same time we’re not gaining games, not gaining speed."

The Bloodhounds are coming off a season where they made the playoffs and finished second in their district.

So far, confidence is reasonably high.

"We’ve been doing fairly well, been scoring a lot of runs," Paz said. "As long as our pitching and defense hold up we should be OK."

"We had a couple of games get away from us in San Antonio," senior Garrett Oliveira added. "Wish we could have had a couple of those back, but there’s not much you can do about the past. We’re just looking forward to playing our game."

Oliveira is one of two senior captains for the Bloodhounds and is off to a torridly hot start at the plate. Moving from the three-hole to the leadoff spot in the lineup this season, Oliveira certainly is enjoying his new role in the offense.

"I feel pretty good at the plate right now, I’m hitting the ball well," Oliveira said. "I feel like I’m seeing the ball well off the bat and coming out of the pitcher’s hand."

Oliveira also is one of the top pitchers for St. Joseph, in addition to catching and playing shortstop.

Unsurprisingly, Paz looks to him to get things going.

"Once we start hitting, the rest of the team catches on," Paz said. "That starts with Garrett Oliveira. We (needed) to get him more at bats. We kind of go with him."

Oliveira accepts the responsibility that comes with his role and someone of his caliber. He has no preference where he plays or where he hits or what he does.

"Whatever helps the team win," Oliveira said.

That mindset carries over to how Oliveira handles his captain role on the Bloodhounds.

"We’re looking for leadership on this team," he said. "It’s two seniors right now that are leading the team as captains. We’re trying to be as best example as we can."

And as for the rest of non-district play and the TAPPS 4-5A schedule, the Bloodhounds’ goal is a simple one.

"Win every single game," Oliveira said.

Todd Orodenker writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherld.com.