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: Broomfield 
Preseason Rank: 48
2015 Record: 6-12
Conference: 5A Front Range
CHSAA Class: 5A
Head Coach: Garren Estes
Playoff Run: N/A
2014 Final Rank: 106
Returning Starters: 3
Returning Pitchers: 2

TOP PLAYERS:

Eddie Flores, OF/RHP, 2016
Angelo Alverado, MIF/RHP, 2016
Nick Carter, 3B/RHP, 2016
Walter Pennington, RHP, 2016
Joshua Cox, OF, RHP, 2017
Chase Arnold, OF/INF, 2017
James Notary, RHP, No. 5 2017 (Texas Christian University)
Mason Speirs, RHP/C, No. 25 2017

OTHER PLAYERS WHO CAN MAKE AN IMPACT
Aidan Arroyo, OF/RHP, No. 49 2017
Matt Turner, 1B, No. 59 2017
Josh Carrillo, C, 2016 No. 105 2016
Nick Carter, 3B/RHP, 2016
Cole Satterfield, OF, 2016
Joey Arensdorf, OF/INF, 2016

X-FACTOR: 
The Eagles bring back some good experienced pitching (62 innings returning from 2015, plus young prospects coming up). This could be a huge strength in 2016.  

KEY PLAYERS LOST:
Caleb Cox: Butler C.C.
Carlos Amador: Graduated

STAT RAT: 
In 2015 the Eagles played in 7 games decided by 1 run losing 5 of those games. 

BOTTOM LINE: 
After a long successful 4A run (Winning 4A State Championships in 2006 and 2012), Broomfield moved up to the 5A level for the first time joining the tough Front Range League in 2015. Longtime head coach Garren Estes (2012 Colorado Coach of the Year) returns to lead a team that brings back a lot of experience from 2015. The Eagles have some weapons on the mound returning in seniors Walter Pennington and Eddie Flores. The two will bring back 43 innings of experience from 2015. Pennington will also help at the plate leading the Eagles with 8 doubles in 2015. Also returning is 2017 RHP James Notary who recently committed to Texas Christian. Notary has a fastball that has the potential to be consistently in the upper 80's and is very projectable. Notary also hit .333 in 2015 and was tied for the team lead in RBI's. 2017 RHP/C Mason Speirs could also add some innings on the mound and behind the plate. Speirs is a strong physical player who also has a mid 80's fastball to work with. 2017 OF/RHP Josh Cox is the Eagles top hitter returning in 2016. Cox had a stellar 2015 season hitting .426 and was tied for the team lead in RBI's. The Eagles played in a lot of close games in 2015 (2-5 overall record in 7 games decided by 1 run). With the experience coming back, don't be surprised if they learn how to win those games that were close in 2015, and flip the switch from a 6-12 season to win more then 10 games in 2016.