Centerville -- Indian Hills head coach Matthew Torrez welcomed a new assistant coach and a whole host of new faces for the fall season of IHCC baseball.  Nick Gobert is the new addition to Torrez's coaching staff and nine players return from the 2019 IHCC squad.

Torrez, in his second year with the Falcons, was asked if there was a big difference this year as opposed to a year ago, when he was beginning his first season as head coach at IHCC.  "One thing we did this fall is make sure we used every day of good weather we had," the Indian Hills coach said.  "I was not real familiar with the weather patterns a year ago and we let a couple of good weather days get away from us last fall.  With the amount of space we have (for workouts) I had a better understanding of how to use that space a little better to our advantage during our practice time.  And that was a positive."

"I was really pleased with our kids' effort this fall," Torrez explained.  "We really were more focused on trying to improve every day.  Coaches always feel there is room for improvement and as a team we are just really focused on doing the little things a little more consistently."

Torrez complimented the returning sophomores for the job they did helping the squad understand the expectations and the commitment to using every day to get better. 

The sophs include a pair of all-region pitchers in 2019 -- Wyatt Wendell and Nick Marshall -- along with Nathan Chasey, who played infield and pitched for the Falcons last spring and will compete for a spot in the starting rotation in 2020.

The Falcons are back indoors for the winter months, preparing for the start of the spring schedule.  "In the offseason we really focus on getting our bodies ready to play 56-plus games in the spring.  We need to make sure we are prepared to handle the amount of games we play.  The kids have really put in the time this fall and are excited to see that relayed to the field in the spring."

Indian Hills will open the spring schedule with a doubleheader at Seward County CC in Liberal, Kansas on Feb. 21.  They will also play games in Missouri, Oklahoma and Illinois before starting the home schedule against DMACC on Mar. 15 at Pat Daugherty Field.