Nickolas Cooney is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Horizon Honors High School for AZPreps365.com

 

Horizon Honors christened its long-awaited new field in dominating fashion against Veritas Prep winning 12-1 Wednesday.

“Some of these guys have been dreaming of this since they were in the sixth and seventh grade to have a field out here,” coach Tom Kandler said.

The Eagles came out of the gate hyped up but settled down.

“We had 11 guys suit up for us today and they all contributed and played pretty solid defense,” Kandler said.

The Eagles allowed one run in the first inning but then locked it down.

“Caden (Bauer) settled down and pitched a really good game to get the win,” Kandler said.

Bauer went the distance and Kandler was happy he stuck with him because once he settled down, he looked like his normal self. Bauer has pitched the past three years but, this was the first game this year.

“I’ve pitched most of life. Coming into the game I was excited for that, I felt confident that I could do a good job for everybody here,” Bauer said.

He said he put a little unnecessary pressure on himself but as the game went on it got better.

Offensive-wise, the Eagles scored at will. They ended the game with a walk off double hit John Fera.

“I didn’t really think about it; I obviously knew I had the opportunity, but I just wanted to hit the ball. I’ve had walk offs before, but this is my first high school walk off,” Fera said.

Horizon Honors continues its season on Friday and Saturday when it plays in a tournament with two games each day.