Nash Darragh is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Mountain View Mesa High School for AZPreps365.com. 

High School baseball is officially back in Arizona. 

On Wednesday the Mountain View Toros took on the Marcos de Niza Padres. It was a beautiful day at the Toros home field in Mesa, as the players and crowd were stoked to be back at the baseball field. What a game it turned out to be as the Toros were able to take the win 2-1 in a fantastic finish.

“The offseason was great. I got a lot of work done that I needed to prepare for the season, and I can't wait to be on the field with these guys today,” junior Kayl Pedi said.

Pedi took a jump in his play on the field but he’s also suited for his new role off of the field in becoming an upperclassman.

“Leadership is huge with us,” he said. “And I feel like when you jump from being a sophomore to a junior is a huge thing.” 

On the mound for the Toros was senior pitcher Chase Welker. Welker proved himself his junior season to be the ace for this Toro team. Welker finished last season with a 3-1 record, posting a marvelous 1.85 ERA in his six appearances on the bump last year. 

The game started off quick for the opposing Padres, as they were able to get on the board first as leadoff hitter Jesus Valles scored from third on a groundout from JP McIntyre. Getting the first RBI of the season for the Padres and putting the score at 1-0 in the first inning. 

Welker was able to bounce back quickly, posting six shutout innings after giving up his first run in the top of the first. Welker also got himself his first win of the new campaign. 

On the other side, junior pitcher Izayiah Abril was dealing for the Padres. Abril didn't give up his first hit until the third inning of this matchup.

But in the bottom of the fourth the Toros were able to string some more hits together having a man on second and third with one out in the inning. Then came to the box freshman, Kooper Klein who struck a ball in between the third baseman and shortstop scoring both Brady Goodman and Bennett Eagleston securing the Toros 2-1 lead. 

“Over the offseason I had an injury with my hip, but I'm finally back after a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to be out with the boys again. It's a great feeling to be playing with them. It's good energy,” said Eagleston.

During the offseason, Eagleston, the Toros senior first baseman, dealt with a hip injury. But after weeks of rehab Eagleston was back on the field right in time to be a key player in the Toros' lineup. 

After a few slow innings came the top of the seventh after a short rain delay between the fifth and sixth inning. When closing pitcher Mitchell Lamoreaux came in for the Toros. The Padres were not giving up easily, getting the bases loaded with only one out. But Lamoreaux was able to get the job done closing the inning with two clutch strikeouts. 

“One run games early in the season are going to help us out late in the season whether we make it to the playoffs or not,” said coach Jesus Arzaga. “You know we have a really young team and I thought we did a really good job of throwing strikes today and just playing defense, and if you do that and offensively squeak a couple of runs through you'll win or have a good chance of winning a game.” 

The Toros look to continue the start of their winning season Thursday at home against Saguaro and then they hit the road for the first time Friday facing the Wolves in Chandler.