Newark Memorial's 'Flex' Plan For Returning to NCS Baseball Playoffs

The Newark Memorial High baseball team has a “Flex” plan for securing a fifth straight trip to the North Coast Section playoffs.

It’s always good to have an “ace” in the hole, especially in high school baseball, and the Cougars have one of the best in senior pitcher Christopher “Flex” Flexen.

Considered one of the top high school pitchers in the state, Flexen has committed to Arizona State University and “has quite a few major league organizations looking at him,” Newark coach Phil Castellanos said.

So Castellanos, who points to “pitching and defense” as two cornerstones in Newark’s bid to reach the NCS playoffs again, and win the Mission Valley Athletic League title again after a two-year absence, has a good foundation with his senior captain.

The Cougars are off to a 12-3 start on the season and will take a 3-0 MVAL record into their early league showdown Wednesday at home against rival (7-6, 3-1).

Castellanos said his 2012 team “will rely on our pitching, defense and baserunning. And they show up every day and work hard to try to get better.”

In any case, Flexen, who goes by Chris to his family but is called “Flex” by his teammates and coaches, will be on the mound Wednesday against Logan.  

“So far the season’s been going great. We’re winning a lot of games,” Flexen said last week. “The team’s chemistry is great. We’re like a real family. We have a lot of fun. We always just want to play baseball.”

Flexen has played a big role in the Cougars’ strong start, and the right-hander figures to be a big part of what the Cougars do in their final nine league games and the playoffs, which appear likely at this point. Flexen plays second base when not pitching. He’s 6-0 with an 0.46 ERA so far, holding hitters to a .142 average in 46 innings, striking out 60 and walking 10.

The Logan Colts won the NCS Division I title last year after edging Newark 5-4 in the quarterfinals following two meetings in league. They won’t play a third time this season, as Newark, because of enrollment, has dropped to Division II while Logan remains in Division I. But winning league usually means a higher seeding in the playoffs.

Logan has won the MVAL the past two years and Newark the previous two years.

“We go back into our league on Wednesday, so we would like to pick up a few more W’s before me make NCS,” Flexen said. Reaching NCS, he conceded, is “a pretty tough row, but as a team we have confidence that we are going to get there.”

Castellanos, in his second season guiding the Cougars after longtime head coach Dan Freitas retired, has three seniors, but all three are leaders.

Besides Flexen, they are Joey Torres and Logan Lombana.

Torres, the first baseman, bats third at a .333 clip with 10 runs and 10 RBIs.

Flexen bats fifth, hitting .375 with a .444 on-base percentage.

Cleanup hitter Logan Lombana (.343, 11 runs) plays third base and is the No. 3 pitcher.

 Meanwhile sophomore Cal Stevenson ignites the attack batting lead off and is the No. 2 pitcher.  Stevenson (4-1) had a 0.47 ERA in 30 innings before being tagged for his first loss Thursday against De La Salle, giving up the first five runs in a 13-1 defeat.

 In center field when not pitching, Stevenson is hitting just under .300 with an on-base percentage of almost .450 thanks to 11 walks. He’s stolen 15 bases without getting caught and has scored a team-leading 12 runs.

Junior catcher Josh Roman bats second, works a lot of walks and steals some bases.

The Cougars have stolen 35 bases, being caught just five times.

Rounding out the starting lineup are junior shortstop Alex Roque, sophomore Tommy Gallagher (left field or second base), sophomore Adriano Arroyo (right fielder/pitcher) and sophomore outfielder Francis Thometz.

Want to keep up with Newark Memorial High's baseball schedule? Click here for information as provided on Maxpreps.com.

Editor's note: This report was updated to correct the grade levels for two players featured in this article.