Baseball Team Wins Opener With ‘Coachable’ Mix of New and Returning Players

The 2025 Eagle baseball team, featuring a near-even split of new and returning players, opened its season with an 8-6 victory Friday at Yuba.

That was followed by a pair of losses Saturday for a team that head coach Tevin Cadola described as mature, coachable, deep and "all pulling in the same direction on the rope."

Highlights from the first weekend included 15 hits in the opener and a solid five innings on the mound by sophomore lefthander Trey Bennett of Etna.

Three Eagles had three hits each in the win, including redshirt freshman third baseman Davin Aea-Kubota of Hauula, HI, who hit a second-inning home run in his first at-bat for Siskiyous.

Sophomore shortstop Gio Sanchez of Las Vegas and freshman DH Alyuss Duenez of Lathrop, CA, also had 3 hits each.

Two-run singles by Sanchez and Duenez gave the Eagles a 6-2 lead in the fourth, and the lead grew to 8-2 when sophomore centerfielder Vinny Gates of Modesto tripled to drive in Sanchez, then scored on a sixth inning passed ball.

Gates led the Eagles in many offensive and defensive categories last year and was their only player to make 1st Team All-Golden Valley Conference.

Bennett, who led last year's pitching staff with 5 wins, allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in his 5 innings Friday, while striking out 4 and walking 3. He also had a home run, a triple and scored twice as the DH in Saturday's second game, a 9-4 loss. That offense came as no surprise to Cadola, who said the plan is to pitch Bennett every Friday and to get him as many at-bats as possible on other days, because "his power at the plate is light years ahead of everybody on the team."

Sophomore relief pitcher Fernando Avalos of Sacramento was a bit wild in his three innings Friday, but he allowed just 1 run on 2 hits despite walking 2 and hitting 3 batters. It helped that he struck out 4.

Yuba rallied to score 3 runs in the bottom of the ninth, 2 of them unearned off freshman Nakea Kahalehau of Wailuku, HI, before sophomore Dylan Fisher came in to get the final out.

Fisher, the starting second baseman from Henderson, NV, had 2 of the Eagles' 15 hits, including a triple. He was one of the Eagles' top hitters and defenders last year and is starting this season as the team's best infielder, Cadola said.

The Eagles had just five hits in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, a 19-1 loss that went off the tracks when Yuba crossed the plate 16 times in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Playing leftfield, Nakea Kahalehau singled and doubled to lead the offense, while Aea-Kubota, Duenez, and sophomore Rylan Taylor of Vancouver, WA, had 1 hit a piece.

Taylor, who played shortstop in that game, had a .420 on-base percentage in 17 games for the Eagles two years ago. He returns for his sophomore season after missing all of last year because of Tommy John surgery.

Cadola said Kahalehau, who played for Hawaii in the Little League World Series, "has a lot of tools and can play anywhere in the outfield."

The Eagles trailed by just 3-0 in Saturday's first game after freshman starting pitcher Lucas Day of Yreka finished his five innings. He allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks.

Sophomore catcher Zane Winter of Leilehua, HI, had a double in that game, Gates had 2 hits and drove in a run, Kahalehau had an RBI single, and first baseman Max Rossmeier of Puyallup, WA, singled and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Winter returns after a strong freshman season both at and behind the plate. Cadola believes Winter was the best defensive catcher in conference last year and was worthy of post-season recognition in the GVC.

Another freshman starting pitcher, Micha Stover of Vacaville, gave up 3 RBI singles and a run-scoring fielder's choice in the second and third innings of Saturday's second game, then held Yuba scoreless the next two frames. He struck out 2 and walked 3 in five innings.

Working together since August, Cadola said the Eagles' 31 players and four coaches were "so ready to play" by the time the season-opener arrived January 24th.

The 15 returning sophomores give the Eagles skills and experience, especially through the middle of the diamond with Gates in centerfield, Fisher at second base, Sanchez and Taylor at shortstop, Winter behind the plate, and starting pitchers Bennett and Branson Paulette of Layton, UT.

Paulette made Honorable Mention All-Conference last year.

The Eagles opened the season with an all-sophomore outfield that included Tyce Bartlett of Citrus Heights and Matthew McCall of Sutter, CA.

Sophomore pitchers Avalos, Skyler Doss and Nathan Baker, both from Klamath Falls, Allanson Reynolds of Las Vegas, and Hunter Reginato of Mount Shasta are also expected to make significant contributions this spring.

Julius Guanio of Ewa Beach, HI, is a returning infielder; and three assistant coaches are back, all of them former Eagle head baseball coaches. Nick Thielman is the pitching coach, Steve Neel is working with the offense, and James Frisbie comes to Weed in the winter to help the Eagle bullpen before returning in the spring to his job as a batting practice pitcher for Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals.

This year's strong group of freshmen players "is going to make it hard for me to write the lineup," Cadola said. "We are very deep with guys who are competing every day and can play in any situation." Plenty of them will get their chances during the long season: 40 pre-season and conference games are scheduled through the end of April.

Among the freshmen vying for plenty of early playing time are outfielder Landon Loudenburg of Sparks, NV, and infielders David Miramontes of San Diego and John Pipe of South Jordan, UT.

Also new to the team are Kiapo Albeso-Notebo, a catcher from Waialua, HI; Beau Killingsworth, a utility player from Reno, NV; Isak Hearell, an outfielder from Roy, UT; Colton Knight, an outfielder from Yreka; Jacob Damore, an outfielder from Las Vegas; Trevor Martin, a righthanded pitcher from Sparks, NV; and Davin Almeida, a righthanded pitcher from Waialua, HI.

The roster is loaded with players who "take care of business on and off the field," Cadola said. All combined, they have a 3.2 team grade point average.

Now in his third year as the Eagles' head baseball coach, Cadola said he eventually realized he needn't have worried about the players while taking three weeks off in the fall for the birth of his son, Crue. "There were no issues," he said. "I came back and everybody was crisp and ready to go. It's a group of guys you don't have to worry about."

Having all those former head coach assistant coaches helps. Cadola praised "the strides Steve Neel has made with the offense, getting us in position on day one to be more confident in our offense than I have ever been." A volunteer with the Eagles last year, Neel is now on the staff.

A few Eagles have home run pop in their swings, but mostly Cadola says this year's offense will be "a singles and doubles type of team" that will thrive by players "putting the ball in play with velocity, getting on base, executing situational hitting, bunting, stealing, and applying pressure on defenses."

He likes having the other "pair of eyes" James Frisbie brings to the pitching staff during the months he's with the team, but Cadola said it's Nick Thielman who makes sure the pitchers understand the team's scouting reports and helps them be ready to compete.

Cadola said his vision for the Eagle baseball program is: "giving back to the kids" and encouraging them that baseball can help them make their parents proud and save their families money after they leave College of the Siskiyous. "I'm passionate about doing the most I can for the players," he said.

With their own field often freezing at night, the Eagles regularly traveled to Oregon to practice on turf as they prepared to open the season. Cadola said the maintenance crew "does a great job," and the Eagles were able to practice at home the week before the first game.

They're scheduled to play three games at Contra Costa the weekend of Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, then will be on the road for non-conference games at Mendocino, Shasta, and Redwoods the first half of February. Their first home game is scheduled for a Tuesday, Feb. 18, against Mendocino. Then they'll open the GVC season at home against Shasta on Friday, Feb. 21.

By Steve Gerace