Now-or-never year for Falcons

With a trio of ballyhooed arms and a core of four-year varsity starters, the time is now for Crescenta Valley High's baseball team. It has to be.

With hurlers Troy Mulcahey and Elliott Surrey and outfielder Troy Prasertsit in their fourth seasons of varsity baseball as Falcons, coupled with the emergence of hard-throwing Kyle Murray, Crescenta Valley is seemingly loaded with senior talent that has arrived upon a do-or-die season.

There is a bevy of local talent heading into its senior seasons, with the Falcons four joined by the likes of David Olmedo-Barrera and Tei Vanderford at St. Francis, as well as Flintridge Prep's Royce Park.

But the Falcons, Golden Knights, Rebels and Hoover Tornadoes all made the postseason a year ago, only to all go one and done. Throw Glendale in the mix and the local diamond five are all looking to improve with the high school baseball season now in full swing.

With Mulcahey, the reigning All-Area Baseball Player of the Year who's drawing major attention from big league scouts, the UC Irvine-bound Surrey and the Cal State Fullerton-bound Murray leading the way, the Falcons won 23 games a season ago, but still came in second in the Pacific League to Arcadia and lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs.

"Our strong suit's on the mound," Falcons Coach Phil Torres said. "Those three seniors haven't won the big game — they just haven't. You can be a showcase guy or going to this college or lighting up the radar, but you have to win the big game. That's what we're looking for. And we feel good about them being able to do that."

Hence, though many of the Falcons' best players have been praised with accolades, scholarships and plenty of hype, they've yet to pry away the Pacific League title from Arcadia's grasp. And that's the biggest task at hand.

"I remind them every week that they really haven't won anything," said Torres, whose team opens its season today against South Hills at UC Riverside. "So there's not a whole lot of back patting in the weight room or at practice."

Indeed, Torres and his staff are ready for Crescenta Valley to finally put it all together. That will involve the contributions from junior Cole Currie, a shortstop and pitcher, third baseman Ted Boeke, a sophomore, and senior backstop Cam Silva.