Baseball Players Take No Days Off at Home

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, sporting events across the nation have come to a screeching halt. While sports teams can’t train together in their facilities, many have found a new way to do so individually, including Maranatha's Varsity Baseball team. To help deal with the campus closure and the suspension of the spring sports season, the Varsity Baseball team has committed themselves to social distancing by creating their own at-home workout regimen during the “Safer at Home” order. Varsity Baseball Head Coach Matt Shupper shared, “The Baseball team is hard at work at their homes. They are still training for this season and believe they can still compete for a Championship, and even more importantly, have a chance to play with their brothers as a team at least one more time. This has been an extremely difficult and emotional time for the players and coaches.”

 

Varsity Baseball has no intention of quitting and is not taking it easy while the season remains suspended because of coronavirus. Maranatha seniors Eli Paton, Owen Hackman, Brock Vradenburg, and Alex Goodman, junior Patrick DeMarco, and freshman Garrett Guigan, just to name a few, have remained focused on their separate daily workouts during their time at home. Some have even filmed their workouts from home to share with others. Junior Patrick DeMarco commented, “Since the suspension of baseball due to the pandemic it has been hard. I feel we had one of the best teams in the state and a chance to bring home another CIF Championship for Maranatha. But even though we aren’t playing right now, I still want to be in season form because it gives me something to strive for. What I miss most though is being with my teammates who are like my brothers on and off the field. The camaraderie we have is like none other.” Senior Brock Vradenburg shared a similar sentiment, “I keep pushing myself to work because I don’t want to lose the feeling of playing baseball. If I lose that, then it feels like the first day of fall all over again. I want to be able to get right back to where I was when the pandemic passes.”

Maranatha’s Athletic Department, spring sports teams, and Minutemen fans still don’t know if or when the season will resume. But that’s not stopping the Varsity Baseball team from giving it their all and staying in shape just in case they’re able to run onto the baseball field again and bring home another Championship win. Senior Eli Paton shared, “This has been a tough stretch of time for everyone, including the Varsity Baseball team. Though I feel our season has been taken away, that hasn’t stopped me from working out and practicing on my own at home every day. I keep pushing because I’m hoping for another opportunity to play this year and to have a chance at a Championship ring.”