March 5 — As the Lassen Community College (LCC) baseball team prepared for its first home game Friday, March 1, it was pleased to see a new scoreboard going up at Memorial Park.

According to head coach Frank Avila, the old scoreboard had not worked well the entire time he has been coaching at LCC. The LCC baseball team helped raise the money for the new scoreboard by holding a golf tournament last summer. The Kiwanis Club, The American Legion, the Lassen High School baseball team and several local businesses also fundraised and donated money for the new scoreboard.

The baseball field at Memorial Park is the home of all things baseball in Susanville. The field is used for Susanville Little League, men’s league, senior league, Lassen High School, The American Legion team and LCC. It’s no surprise fundraising for the new scoreboard was a community effort and that the baseball community is looking forward to seeing it at home games in the future. At an LCC baseball practice Thursday, Feb. 21, Avila said, “We want to thank all the local businesses in town that helped us come together to get the new scoreboard at Memorial Park. I know it will be an advantage to pretty much the whole city of Susanville baseball-wise, so that’s good. I want to thank the Kiwanis Club and Steve Robertson. He’s the guy behind the scoreboard and he did a great job.”

In addition to their excitement over the new scoreboard, Avila and the LCC baseball team are looking forward to the remainder of the baseball season. At practice on Feb. 21, LCC had already played 11 games, all of them away, and held a record of 1-10.

Despite the losses, Avila was positive about the Cougar’s upcoming games. “The season’s going good. We’re off to a slow start, but once we get outside a little more and practice and start working on the little things its going to take to be successful, we’ll be fine,” Avila said.

While the Cougars played competitively in their previous games, unfortunately they didn’t come out on top.

However, the Cougars aren’t focusing on the losses, their future competitors or any other challenges they may face throughout the remainder of the season. Instead they are focusing on themselves, the quality of their game and the things they can control. “When we worry about other people is when we start getting in trouble. We need to play against the game, not necessarily against the opponent. We need to play a clean game and play our style of baseball and make people beat us,” Avila said.

According to Avila, the sophomores on the team are the leaders. They help the Cougars come together as a team competing for one common goal, rather than playing as individuals. The Cougars 11 pitchers are led by left-handed pitcher Colby Duncan, from Reno, Nev. and right-handed pitcher Cory Louber, from Chico, Calif. Lassen High School alumni Austin Chedwick and Jared Bertotti also play for the Cougars.

The LCC baseball team had its first home game with the new scoreboard Friday, March 1 against Delta College. The Cougar’s next home game is a doubleheader against Butte College at 12 p.m. Saturday, March 9.