Interim head coach Ty Gavin is set to begin his first season at the helm of the Scottsdale Community College baseball team.

Gavin told Northeast Valley News that he grew up in Colorado and played his college baseball there.  He moved to the Valley about a year-and-a-half ago and served as an assistant coach in the program last year.

The Artichoke’s season gets underway with a challenge on Jan. 26 when the team hosts DI opponent Colorado Northwestern C.C. for a two-day, four-game series, followed closely by another four-game series against College of Southern Idaho, another DI school, Jan. 31 through Feb. 2.

Because of winter break, players are restricted from practicing until Jan. 10, so the team’s busy nonconference schedule is meant to help build team chemistry and aid with physical conditioning, especially among pitchers.

“Pitchers are going to be a little limited—they’re still building up,” Gavin said of the early season matchups.  “It allows us to work on building up that stamina with them and then it also allows for relievers to take on a little bit bigger role than maybe they would later on in the season when the starters are more extended.”

Conference play begins Feb. 9 against GateWay C.C.

According to Gavin, Scottsdale fielded a young team last season, finishing 20-27 with seven or eight freshmen typically in the lineup.

“The bright side is, is we have a lot of those guys back for this year, but it was definitely a learning experience for them.  We also played a tough schedule last year with a lot of Division I opponents as well,” Gavin said of the team’s record last season.

Even though the team finished below .500 overall, Gavin recalled that the youthful team was not far out of the conference playoffs last spring.

“On the Division II side, we were tied for the last playoff spot—did not have the tie breaker—and the team that did have the tie breaker ended up going on to win the conference tournament,” Gavin said.  “The gap between the top team and the bottom team was really small last year and potentially a game away from being right where we want to be and right in the mix.”

According to Gavin, a lot of returning players on the position side of the ball should add to the stability and leadership of this year’s team.  The challenge for the first-year interim coach will likely be developing the crop of new faces on the mound.  Among them, sophomores Christopher Gaudio, who transferred from Santa Clara College after playing for Notre Dame Prep in high school and James Hubbard, who spent last season with Mesa C.C.

Aside from getting the youthful pitching corps up to speed in a hurry, Gavin stressed the program’s commitment to excelling in the classroom.

“We have a goal of a 3.0 team GPA or better.  We were able to hit that number the first semester, so that’s another focus going into the spring,” Gavin said.

Gavin told Northeast Valley News that as a new coach, he appreciates the fact that the baseball program at SCC is “in a good spot” and doesn’t require fixing.  He also feels that his relative youth can be a benefit for someone in his position.

“It wasn’t long ago that I was in their shoes,” Gavin said.  “So I think you just really remember how difficult it is and how much of a grind it is…just being able to relate with them in that aspect and then really just be a positive energy giver and give these guys confidence and develop them and put them in situations where I think they’ll be most successful.”