Young Rangers making improvements

HAMBURG — When a team has youth spread out all across the baseball field, including players who weren’t really tested at the varsity level, there should be a degree of learning, adjustment and yes patience throughout the course of the regular season.
Some teams take the steps necessary to improve on a regular basis, while others use the fact that mistakes are being made and setbacks are building up for a reason to give less than their best at all times.
Count the Wallkill Valley High School baseball program as being in the category of not only learning from mistakes, while also improving upon their strengths, but also giving a top notch effort against any and all opponents.
The Rangers have three captains-Ryan Gutt (senior), Dylan Harlos (junior) and Justin Rivera (sophomore) who are helping to keep the ship steady at all times on and off the field.
“We have our players voted on captains a few weeks into the season," Wallkill Valley head coach Kevin Lukich said. “The players decide on the captains through what they see as leadership qualities throughout practice in the preseason and offseason."
“Dylan is hitting .333 and has nine stolen bases for us. He is our starting catcher and his leadership is vital to our success. Justin leads the team with 12 stolen bases and has been solid on the mound for us. He has a 3-4 record with 39 strikeouts in 29 innings. Ryan is hitting .310 with eight RBI's and gives us stability to the bottom of our order."
Gutt, Harlos and Rivera constantly work on those areas of their baseball games at which they need to get better, but are also considerate of their teammates.
“I see little improvements every day with all of them," Lukich said. “Mostly, I see their leadership skills improving. They each do a nice job working with the less experienced players.
“They help a lot through conversations between at bats and giving pointers of how to attack a certain batter. They are all very open to helping one another.
In games played through May 13, the Rangers were hovering right around the .500 mark at 7-9-1 and they were 3-2 Northwest Athletic Conference Colonial Division.
“Tyler Small, although not a captain, has been a great leader for this group," Lukich said. “He loves the game of baseball and plays extremely hard, which is infectious.
“Our team is extremely young and still learning how to play together. At any given time, we can have two freshmen and five sophomores on the field together.’’
NOTES: The individual statistics listed above were from games played through May 11.