Spring is upon us, and that can only mean one thing: Grenadier baseball.

With the baseball season starting on March 15, the Elk Grove Grenadiers are looking to improve upon some recent success from previous seasons. While their previous season was nothing to scoff at, it left more to be desired. Players have been improving across the board, including pitcher and infielder David Garza.

“My best experience here at Elk Grove will have to start with throwing a no-hitter against Wheeling,” Garza said. “The thing that made it even more incredible was that it was back-to-back no hitters.”

Garza’s teammate Jaden Alberson, who graduated last year, threw one the following game.

“I know this year we have a group of guys that have the same mindset of competing and winning,” Garza said. “I’m looking forward to having a successful season with the team.”

The team can only do so much with great players alone. Smart coaching is a huge part of high school baseball, and coach Steve Lesniak says he’s doing his best to make sure his players are setting important goals for themselves.

“My plan is to help our team continue to develop and obviously wins are an important and a good measure of our success but we want to grow athletes and find young men as well,” Lesniak said. “The plan for the year is to win conference and that’s the starting point for us and we have the tools and abilities to do that. We’re just going to take it one day at a time.” 

It’s clear that the Grens want it all this year, especially with seniors like Mitch Janczak leaving after this season.

“(It is) kind of weird that this will be my last year playing with all the guys I’ve played with since youth baseball,” Janczack said.