When David Jones took over as head coach of Hoover’s baseball team a season ago, he was leading an inexperienced group, mostly made up of underclassmen. Although the young players struggled to put together consistent wins at that time, Jones still felt encouraged by the progress they were making.
A season later, Jones is seeing the results of the team’s patience and hard work. This resilient team, that finished with a losing record last season, is in a much different place a year later, sitting just one game away from the Division 4 Section Championship game.
“Last year, obviously very young, a lot of freshmen playing varsity, which never happens, but after Covid, the program was really deleted,” Jones said. “Those guys were just getting caught up with the speed of the game and really bought into the culture we’re trying to teach here. I couldn’t be more proud of them for working together as a team and coming together. This is beyond our expectation.”
The Patriots advanced to the semis after taking down Madera South 9-2 at home on Friday. Like they have been doing all season, the Patriots continued to show their growth in the quarterfinal matchup.
Down 7-0 in the sixth inning, Madera South scored two runs to finally gain some momentum. But the Patriots responded with two of their own runs in the following inning, squashing the Stallions’ momentum and putting the game away for good.
While the Patriots’ bats stayed hot throughout the game, it was sophomore pitcher Asa Medina who carried the load on the mound.
“He has been our guy on fire lately,” Jones said. “We had built a lead which is a comfortable cushion, so a few runners — you don’t worry about the runners, you just work outs and we felt like we had the pitcher on the mound to get the outs and he came through.”
The next challenge for the Patriots: No.1-ranked Liberty High School on Tuesday on the road.
“These kids are ready to go,” Jones said. “Liberty is a well-deserved No.1 seed and we look forward to the matchup.”
It’s never easy to revive a program that hasn’t seen playoff success in recent years. But Jones said it’s possible when everybody involved with the program is actually involved.
“You don’t need just kids to buy in. You need the school to buy in, you need the parents to buy in,” Jones said.
And in the end, it takes a relentless group to take care of business on the field.
“These kids have just been coachable and trusting what we’re trying to do here and the results are on the field,” Jones said.
