American Heritage United In Its Winning Focus

The American Heritage Patriots will open the 2015 spring season with a few unknowns. While they have a few returning starters who have proven they can play at this level, they have some younger talent coming up.

“It will probably be around the seventh or eighth game before we really know where we stand,” Manager Bruce Avens said. “We are a young scrappy team. All around, we are fundamentally sound.”

Coming off a season where the Patriots went 13-8 overall and 7-3 in their district, Avens does have some talent coming back. One of the senior leaders is third baseman, David Villar. Villar hit for power and average last year. His stats read, .444 batting average with three home runs and 16 runs batted in. Justin Lamazares will also be looked upon to lead. Lemazares, a catcher, will keep the team on its toes.

“We have a solid team,” Villar said. “We understand situations. We play fundamental baseball. We have some good pitching back this year and we will hit the ball.”

That good pitching will start with seniors Donovan Futrell and Patrick Mitchell. Futrell, a right-handed pitcher, threw the most innings last year for the staff that ended with a respectable 2.93 earned run average. Mitchell, also a right-handed pitcher, averaged more than one strike out per inning pitched in 2014. He looked exceptionally strong in a recent practice. Senior Richard Cruz, will complete the threesome that will give opponents a tough time at the plate.

“We may be the underdogs this year,” Avens reflected. “I feel pretty good about this squad. We have good pitching. We will throw strikes. We will play defense, and, fundamentally, we do not make a lot of mistakes.”

This will be the winning formula for Avens and his coaching staff.

Back to assist Avens for another year is Mike Macey, the assistant coach. The Patriots’ Pitching Coach is Evan Thomas and rounding out the staff is Assistant Coach Will Block. The team philosophy centers on the fundamentals.

“We have a good group of coaches,” Avens said. “We get along real well and we are working on the same philosophy. We look to have quality at bats, and we teach the guys to recognize situations. We want them ready to react when those situations arise.”

Avens does think that he will get some contributions from some of the underclassmen this year. However, some of them will get a chance to play, and sometimes if you get a chance to play and you play well you play again tomorrow.

Competition is always a nice thing to have, and the Patriots typically do a nice job of bringing younger players along. With a veteran group like theirs, there may not be much playing time available. But this just puts more emphasis on a guy to play hard and push for that chance, and for those starters to keep working just as hard and hold onto their spot.

The Patriots open up with a couple of preseason games on February third and fourth and start their regular season on February 10th, against district rival Hallandale.

“We’ll be ready,” Avens said. “We’ve got a chance to play, so we’ve got a chance to win.”

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