STORY & PHOTO BY MONICA BADOLIAN
This year the men’s Cypress baseball team has been playing at a high level. The Chargers currently stand at fourth place in the Orange Empire conference with a record of 26-13, only three games behind first place, Saddleback College (29-10).
At home the Chargers have taken the care of business by winning 14 games and only losing six. While on the road, the Chargers had won ten and lost seven. In the months of February and March, the Chargers went on with a ten gaming winning streak helping them stay in the playoff hunt.
I asked Cypress Men’s Baseball Head Coach Anthony Hutting who he thought was a player on his team to keep an eye on and he said Luke Honikel. Honikel, a liberal arts major, has 37 games played overall with 42 hits and 27 runs, and a batting average of .300. Honikel graduated from Servite High School with a 2-year Varsity Letterman, 1x First-Team All-League, and batted .365. Here’s more from the athlete himself.
Height: 6’1 
Weight: 195
Bats/Throws: L/R
Year: So
High School: Servite HS
Position: OF
GP AVG HR RBI R SB
30 .295 3 20 21 –
Q. How has this season been for you so far?
A. The season has been good, it was off to a slow start but then picked it up, hitting 350 in league with ten extra-base hits so far, so not a bad year.
Q. How long have you been playing baseball?
A. I’ve been playing baseball since I was three, a long time.
Q. Some ways you stay motivated?
A. Just plan for the team and teammates, not be selfish, and work hard for the guys.
Q. A professional athlete you admire?
A. I’ll go with Shohei Ohtani, I’m an Angels fan.
Q. How do you prep for game days?
A. We get out here pretty early, so if it’s a two o’clock game, we’re out here at 11. So it’s already pretty early, then we stretch, play catch, bp (batting practice), right up to game time. Not much you can do.
Q. There is a lot of pressure on professional athletes to perform well. How do you handle the pressure or is there none?
A. I try not to think about it, just go day by day. And you just got to move on from a bat
to a bat.
