Lions take pride in Kingham

Baseball is unlike almost every other high school sport.

You don’t change your quarterback every game in football, or switch point guards in basketball, but in baseball your chances to win often depend on who is on the mound.

And adding an extra pitcher can often mean the difference between success and failure, especially in the postseason.

Sierra Vista hopes that extra arm belongs to senior Nick Kingham.

“Adding Kingham is a nice addition,” coach Nathan Selby said. “He’s a big, strong kid. If he can pitch like everybody thinks he’s going to, he should be a handful for high school hitters.”

Kingham, a 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pound right-hander, sat out his junior season after transferring from Calvary Chapel. But the hard thrower should immediately find a place atop the Lions’ rotation. He’ll play first base when he’s not pitching.

“Kingham’s huge,” said junior shortstop Jake Hager. “He’s going to probably be the hardest pitcher to beat in the city.”

Kingham’s presence also will take some of the pressure off Hager and fellow junior Alex Estrella.

Hager was the team’s top pitcher last season, going 7-3 with a 2.51 ERA, but will spend more time at shortstop. Hager batted .505 with nine home runs and 35 RBIs.

“Hager, we like him at shortstop,” Selby said. “So when you pitch him, you have that problem. He’s going to throw some innings for us and he’ll probably be our (No.) 3 guy if we’re lucky enough to get in the tournament. But we probably won’t pitch him a ton this year.”

Estrella went 7-2 with a 3.83 ERA, and another junior, Blair Goldsack, was 2-1 with nine saves and a 2.28 ERA as the closer. With Kingham, Goldsack should be able to stay in that role this season.

“We paid a little bit for it last year, pitching three sophomores, but we’re hoping to reap the rewards a little bit this year and the year after,” Selby said.

Selby said junior Dusty Stevens should be the No. 3 starter during the season, and will add depth in the postseason when games can stack up quickly.

“Depth is huge,” Hager said. “(Kingham) is going to provide us with the big games, and we have other solid pitching to finish the other games, especially in the playoffs.”

But one major obstacle stands between Sierra Vista and a Southwest League or Sunset Region title: Bishop Gorman.

The four-time defending state champs lost five key seniors to graduation, including most of their pitching, but still opened the season ranked No. 5 in the nation by Baseball America.

“There’s a team over the hill here that has won a bunch, so until somebody can beat them, they’re still the team to beat,” Selby said.