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Sports

Trying Times: Woodinville Baseball Succeeding Despite Injuries

Early injuries have hurt the Falcons lineup, the the Woodinville baseball team is off to a hot start.

Spencer Greer begins his windup, rears back and delivers a pitch. It's a curve and the Inglemoor batter whiffs harmlessly at it as it drops out of the strike zone unexpectedly. Greer pumps his fist, it's his third straight strikeout and it preserves Woodinville's 4-0 lead.

Other Falcon players rush in from the field, or walk out of the dugout, shouting encouragement to Greer. The whole team meets halfway between home plate and first base, talks for a few seconds, breaks as a team and gets ready to hit.

Looking at that moment, you'd never realize that the Woodinville baseball team is a group beset by injuries, that Greer wasn't even supposed to be the number one pitcher, that they just lost their starting left fielder to a broken hand earlier in the same game.  That's because, despite all those setbacks, the Falcons are on an early-season roll.

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Hot Start

Woodinville is off to its best start in at least four years, winning its first five games by a combined 52-11. The Falcons have only been seriously challenged once (a 7-6 win over Monroe) and swept a series in Yakima by scores of 13-2 and 20-2.

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That's a nice way to start the season for any team, especially one that was coming off an unimposing 12-10 record and early playoff exit in 2010. A year later and boasting a roster full of varsity-experienced players, Woodinville is looking like a team that could make some noise come playoff time.

Senior Carl Svanevik leads the way offensively for the Falcons, beginning the season on a tear that has him batting .667 with 9 RBI's through Wednesday.

There is also a group of juniors that all played on the varsity level as sophomores, including junior Anthony Florentine, who is slugging .875 in the early going. Sophomore Caleb Hamilton is batting .438 through five games to go along with 6 RBI's and 7 runs scored.

And then there's Greer, who pitched sparingly in 2010, but has yet to surrender an earned run in 14.1 innings in three appearances in 2011."He pitched a little bit for us last year as a sophomore, so he's got a little varsity experience," head coach Terry Agnew said of Greer. "We have high expectations for him and so far he's done a really nice job for us."

Leading the Ship

Terry Agnew has been around long enough to know what his team was up against.

Before the season had even begun for the Woodinville baseball team, Agnew had lost his number one pitcher, Jeff Wyner, to an ACL injury. Then his starting shortstop, Shea Donlin, sprained his ankle. Then, in the fifth game of the season, starting left fielder Ryland Longoni broke his hand when he was hit by a pitch.With a string of injuries like that, the Falcons could be excused for starting slow. But, instead, Woodinville has rallied. 

Behind that early success is Agnew, the head baseball coach at Woodinville since 1990. Agnew has seen it all, from coaching future major-league players to winning a state championship to struggling through middling seasons. A string of injuries that knocked out three of his starters has not fazed him.

"We were concerned about our pitching [to start the season]," Agnew said. "We've been real fortunate that the kids we've put out there have been able to go the distance we want them to go."

Agnew is the face of Woodinville sports programs, having also coached the football team for 12 seasons before retiring from that position to become the Athletic Director at the school, a position he still holds.

In his time, he's coached a number of KingCo 4A champs and a group of talented players, such as current Seattle Mariner Matt Tuiasosopo, an experience Agnew recalls fondly.

"We've had some really really good kids come through here," Agnew said. "I've been very fortunate as a coach to be able to work with some of the guys who come through...it helps everybody in the program when we have good players come through."

High Expectations

Woodinville's hot start is likely to cool off a bit once it enters the difficult KingCo season, which will include opponents like powerhouse Redmond High School. But despite entering the season without being given much of a chance to compete on a state level, Agnew said the team has lofty aspirations.

"We always set our goals really high," Agnew said. "I think it's just a matter of how our pitching holds up...but I think we're going to be in a position where, hopefully, we can compete all year long."

The Falcons will be helped by the return of Donlin, who should be back after two more games. With a number of underclassmen showing they can produce, Woodinville may just go on surprising people.

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