Magdalena brings fireworks to ABQ

ALBUQUERQUE – It might be a bit early to break out the Bash Brothers moniker for the Magdalena baseball team, but the Steers unleashed some fireworks in a doubleheader last week against defending Class 2A state champion Oak Grove Classical Academy.

Admittedly, the Owls, who played as a combined team with Menaul last season, was fielding a vastly different lineup after graduating a number of players and are now playing on their own this season. Still, it’s was a nice doubleheader sweep to the tune of 14-6 and 14-4.

“I don’t really look at last year and try to focus on last year as a measure to our success this year,” Steers coach Kyl Canderlaria said. “I expect to win and the boys expect to win no matter who we play. I believe we have the talent to do it. Put us in a game with anybody in any class and we expect to be competitive with anybody we play.”

And it was nice to break out the wood as Magdalena was taking good at bats and sending line drives around the field. Oh, and a couple of bombs that cleared the fenced -- one from Jeffrey Stuteville in the first game as he works his way back into baseball form after a four-year absence, and the other from Mathew Lopez in the second game.

“We kind of got out of our slump,” Candelaria said in a vast understatement.

As for the homers, well the coach will take them, but he doesn’t want the players to really focus on the big flies.

“It can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing,” he said of the home runs. “We really focus on letting the ball get deep on the plate. Every day in practice, we focus on hitting hard line drives up the middle. If we’re letting the ball get deep on the plate, our barrel is still in the zone and we can still get the bat on it.”

Still, it’s a nice bonus, Candelaria said.

“We hit a couple of home runs every year. It’s something that happens and it’s because of the discipline at the plate,” he said. “But I always tell them I would rather have somebody go 4-for-4 with four singles and get on base every time than going 1-4 with a home run and three strikeouts. We focus on more walks than strikeouts. The more guys we get on base, the better off we’re going to be.”

And that makes sense since through nine games, the Steers have a remarkable 36 steals (averaging four per game) in 38 attempts. Josiah Candelaria leads the way with eight in nine attempts and Ayden Herschbach has been successful on all seven of his chances.

As for the 6-foot, 5-inch Stuteville, he’s been known more for his basketball acumen than his diamond skills, having last played a partial baseball season as an eighth grader.

“Jeffrey, he’s kind of a late bloomer for us,” Candelaria said. “He’s started a little behind with his experience. You can’t really teach experience. You have to gain that muscle memory through reps. Just hitting. So he’s behind a little bit.”

Stuteville said he enjoyed playing baseball as a youngster but hoops just kind of took over as he reached high school, playing in club ball when the high school season was completed.

“But I decided as a senior, since it would be my final chance to play, that I would give it another try,” he said. “It’s going good. I’m really enjoying playing again. My teammates and the coaches are all great so I have no complaints.”

Although Stuteville has been playing sparingly and has been somewhat struggling, Candelaria described the three-run, fifth-inning blast as a “no doubter.”

And Stuteville is starting to swing the bat better with the help of occasional hitting coach Julio Peguero.

“I’m getting used to tracking the ball and the speed of it,” Stuteville said. “We just went to the batting cages in Socorro and the coach Julio (Peguero), had me twist my back leg and that’s what I did on that at bat and it worked.”

It was just one plate appearance and one big hit, but it could have a big impact down the road.

“It’s pretty difficult, being bigger, so it’s harder to get your coordination, as well as having a bigger strike zone,” he said. “But it felt great just to get my swing back and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season.”

What’s more, it provided one of those unforgettable moments.

“Whenever I hit it off the bat, I knew I got a lot of it,” he said. “I wasn’t for sure it was going out but then I heard my teammates screaming and that’s when I realized. Just to experience it with my teammates, it was an amazing feeling.”