Ethan Greni is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Coronado High School for AZPreps365.com

New coach Don Spaniakliked what he saw in Coronado's season-opening 9-5 loss to Wickenburg but fears there may be some trepidation among his players.

“I think there’s some cautiousness, some nervousness, because of me being a new coach, two new assistant coaches,” Spaniak said. “They haven’t really known what to expect.”

Senior starting pitcher Junior Castro said having all the new faces around the team is something he enjoys.

“I’m pretty excited, new coach, more freshmen,” Castro said. “It’s a new experience.”

There are seven freshmen on the roster, two of whom started Wednesday’s game. Chris Holmes was the starting catcher and Alwyn Perez started at shortstop before coming in to pitch the seventh inning.

Castro threw 68 pitches over four innings, giving up five hits and two runs. He struck out three batters and walked one, also hitting one batter.

“I thought I did pretty good,” Castro said. “I thought I threw strikes, made them hit the ball, and got outs.”

Spaniak said he’d like to see Coronado’s bats start swinging more. Wickenburg pitching struck out 11 batters.

“We can improve on a lot of things, however, I think we took too many fastballs for strikes, we weren’t aggressive enough on that,” Spaniak said. “If we could improve upon that, I think that score would’ve been a little bit different, but we’ll build on [this], we’re a working and a learning team.”

One goal Spaniak has for his seniors is for them to become role models for the team.

“Seniors, we want [them] to be our problem solvers,” Spaniak said. “We’re working at that, we’re trying to teach our seniors to take that leadership role.”

The Dons entered the seventh and final inning with a 5-4 lead after scoring four runs in the sixth, capped off by a single up the middle by senior outfielder Brian Espericueta that drove in two runs.

“That felt amazing,” Espericueta said. “Coach told me, ‘Swing the bat when you see one you like,’ and I swung right at it.”

However, that lead quickly evaporated in the seventh inning as the Wranglers scored five runs, including two runners coming home off wild pitches.

Still, Spaniak was proud of the effort his team displayed.

“I was happy we came out and we were able to compete, we hung in there as long as we could,” Spaniak said. “We put [Wickenburg] on the ropes, and kudos to them, they were able to answer.”

Spaniak also felt this game was a good test for his team.

“They have a nice ballclub,” Spaniak said. “We like to play teams like that.”