Prep Baseball Report

Preseason Countdown: No. 46 Bear Creek



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: Bear Creek
Preseason Rank:
46
2014 Record:
9-11
Conference:
Jeffco
CHSAA Class: 5A
Head Coach: Sean Hoorelbeke
Playoff Run: Lost in First Round of Districts to Rocky Mountain
2014 Final Rank: 52

Returning Starters: 7
Returning Pitchers:
4

TOP PLAYERS:
Kolby Bonato, 2B, 2015
Nick Madrid, RHP, 2015
Riley Grivette, P, 2015
Joe Grant, 3B, 2015
Owen Pigati, OF, 2015
Christian Hiep, OF/MIF, 2016
Thomas Martinez, 1B/RHP, 2016

X-FACTOR:
Riley Grivette: Grivette led the Bears in innings pitched in 2014. Grivette showed flashes of being able to produce quality starts. If Grivette can limit the big inning the Bears will have at least 2 reliable starters on the mound in 2015.

NEWCOMER TO WATCH:
Thomas Martinez, 6-0, 205 lbs,1B/RHP, 2016: Martinez went 2-1 with 20 innings pitched on the varsity squad with 17 k's. Martinez also got 29 AB's with 8 RBI's.

KEY PLAYER LOST:
Rob Vance: Graduated

STAT RAT:
The Bears return 102 innings from 2014 to the mound that produced 96 strikeouts.

BOTTOM LINE:
When talking about the Bears you have to start with 4-year varsity player Kolby Bonato (2015) and his team leading 19 RBI's from 2014 coupled with a .417 batting average. Another returning starter is Nick Madrid (2015). Madrid is a good athlete who is also Bear Creek's starting QB. In 2014 Madrid hit .439 with 18 runs and 12 SB in 57 AB's. Madrid also brings back 52 IP on the mound with 49 K's spanned over 2 years with a 5-3 record. The Bears strength will no doubt be the experience they bring back to the mound and on the field in 2015.

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