The Dust Devils finished the season with a record of 20-10, which was the second straight year they had at least 20 wins.
Head Coach Billy Fregozo said his team had an amazing season and was completely overlooked all year after moving up a division. The Dust Devils played three out of their first four games against teams that made the final four in states.
"We realized early on we needed to get back to the old school of fundamentals and basic baseball," Fregozo said. "We jumped back into our batting cages, got heavy into tee work, took thousands and thousands of ground balls and fly balls, focused on base running drills to get back to stealing bases."
The team then entered the Route 66 tournament and knew they would need to finish the season strong against a loaded conference consisting of Catholic and Christian Charter Schools.
"Once we got our team fully on board and majorly focused, we were definitely going to make a run at a playoff," Fregoza said. "This season, we stayed upbeat, with no negative attitudes, and when this group is playing together, they are one of the toughest teams to beat, and they proved it all the way to our final game in the semis."
Leading the way offensively was Gavin Hogencamp. He finished with a team-high .473 batting average and had three home runs and 19 RBIs. Hayden Goveia led the team with 25 RBIs while Hunter Koehler and Chad Hunter Jr. knocked in 18, and Mikey Gonzalez and Mickey Smith combined to drive in 30.
On the mound, Dreyton Gleason was 6-0 with an ERA of 3.58. Hogencamp, Orr, Smith and Wyatt Maxwell also recorded wins.
However, on Thursday, they received a tremendous pitching performance from Koehler, who also reached base multiple times. River Valley got great infield defense and a big-time performance from Evan Orr at the plate but fell 5-2 after a couple of misplays in the outfield.
"At the end of the day, River Valley boys baseball is for real," Fregoza said. "The way they have been playing since 2020 has drawn attention to younger kids that want to come to be part of this program. We have been in the state playoffs now three years in a row. This year, we finished in the second game of the semis along with Yuma Catholic, Valley Christian and Northwest Christian, who are all from the last three years of being in the semis and in the finals.
They are set to have three seniors graduate in Hogencamp, Goveia and Farnham Fregozo — though he says his team will be back.
"I told the team after the game to keep their heads held high. No reason to drop them. We are one of the top four teams in our conference out of 45. We are the only public school in the final four. That's a huge win in my book. We're coming back next ye... Click here to read full article
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