The expectations maybe were not quite as high for the Feather River College Golden Eagles heading into 2024 season with a very young team and tons of experience having graduated and moved on.

A funny thing happened on the way to those expectations. The Golden Eagles have rolled out to a 9-3 record through a dozen non-conference games, just in time for the start of the Golden Valley Conference schedule this weekend.

"This has been one of our best non-conference starts in recent memory, especially with such a young team heading into the season," said FRC head coach Terry Baumgartner. "A pleasant surprise for us has been the way we have played together unselfishly through our first 12 games."

The Golden Eagles have consistently put together a trio of three-game winning streaks, and two of their three losses have been by two runs or less. As a young team, they have bonded away from home playing all 12 games away from their home park in Quincy.

"Our guys have really bought in to the team concept and everyone doing their best each game no matter what their role is that game," the veteran coach added. "Specifically we have pitched really well but our defense has to be the biggest surprise. Due to our lack of field practice time because of all the rain in California, it's been tough to practice. We need to improve our situational hitting and our approach at the plate to get to where we want to be."

While Baumgartner could recognize only a few of his players when practice started last Fall, that small group of returnees have led the way early in the season.

The Golden Eagle offense has scored 84 runs in 12 games (7.0 per contest) with sophomore Jared Stevenson hitting .340 with nine doubles and 14 RBI. Fellow returnee Reed Alexander has scored nine times and driven in nine runs and Andrew Lehmann is hitting .294. A pair of newcomers are hitting the ball at a hot clip as well. Kolt Kurzman is batting .375 with 10 RBI, and Dylan Marx leads the team in runs scored with 14 and is batting .314.

On the mound, sophomore Kyle Giovannoni is 1-1 and has given up just 15 hits in a team-best 22 innings pitched. He has fanned 26 batters. Eric Valdez has struck out a sizzling 26 batters in 15.2 innings pitched. Freshman Trey Smith is 2-0, allowing 13 hits in 15 innings. 

Out of the bullpen, two newcomers have impressed immediately. Weston Russell has two saves while striking out 17 opponents in 10.2 innings. Will Page-Allen is 2-0 with a save and has a 0.00 ERA, having given up only two hits in 10 innings of work. 

Feather River will head to Susanville Sunday to play Lassen and will host the Cougars on Saturday in Quincy. With the start of conference play, Baumgartner contends the goals are always the same for the program that has won 13 conference titles in his 16 years at the helm.

"Our conference is really deep this year, I believe the league's non-conference record is 40-29 which is really good for the GVC," he said. "That creates a lot of parity in our conference. We just have to show up each weekend and play to our abilities and not try to do more than that."

After the three games with Lassen, the Golden Eagles will return to Quincy for their GVC home series against Siskiyous, March 1-2.

"Our goals still remain the same, we are trying to be competitive in the GVC and hopefully win a conference championship again."