When it comes to the infield, Mustangs use “fresh” approach

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a varsity team in the Southland with an infield comprised entirely of freshmen. Well, outside of Arleta, that is.

Coach Edgar Maldonado had nothing but ninth and 10th graders to work with last year when he took the first-year program all the way to Dodger Stadium, where the Mustangs lost in extra innings to Los Angeles CES in the City Small Schools Division final.

A year later, however, Maldonado is breaking in the colts not because he has to but because he wants to. ‘In addition to being solid fielders, all of them can hit and two of them also pitch,’ he said. ‘They don’t all play every game yet, but they might before too long because either shortstop can switch to third, no problem.’

Shortstops Javy Lopez and Erik Trujillo are like two peas in a pod. Lopez his batting .500 with three doubles and five RBIs and he has 17 strikeouts in nine innings pitched. Trujillo, meanwhile, is batting .571 with a homer, three doubles, three steals and allowed one earned run in five innings in a loss to L.A. Baptist. First baseman Miguel Perez is batting .375 with two home runs and six RBIs from the clean-up spot. Jose ‘Pepe’ Marquez has hit .375 in four games at second base.

Arleta’s roster also includes six sophomores and five juniors, but the ‘freshman foursome’ has powered the team to a 5-2 start heading into Valley League play.

-- Steve Galluzzo