Gonzales baseball

One of the best stories in the first quarter of the league season has been the Spartans, who are 5-2 in the Mission Trail Athletic League.
Then again this is a program that has improved in the win column in each of the last four years, going 9-9 last season in the MTAL.
 Yet, prior to last spring, Gonzales hadn't won more than four league games in its previous 15 years, a stretch that included four winless league campaigns.
 The Spartans are the only team to have knocked off Soledad this year, and also have wins over King City and Stevenson.
 All of a sudden Gonzales finds itself lumped with five other teams within one game of each other for the MTAL lead.
 Of course, it doesn't hurt having an all-leaguer to build around in Xando Mendez, who pitched a gem in the Spartans win over King City on Tuesday.
 Mendez has carried a hot bat all season along with Alex Morga, Giovanni Garcia and Michael Duby, while Gonzalo Villagomez has given Gonzales another live arm in the rotation.
 Head coach Erik Lopez has been patient in rebuilding a program that hasn't had a winning season in over 20 years. The postseason is not a pipe dream.