It wasn't all that long ago that things weren't going well for the Sickles baseball team.  In fact, it was just last season.

"It was the worst [season] in Sickles history," Senior Pitcher Shane Haight explains.

Fellow senior center-fielder Xavier Rodriguez agrees. "Last year was a mess.  I think we were like 8-15 and no one was having fun, or had enthusiasm," Rodriguez explains.

Suddenly, things are looking up for the Gryphons - who have won 6 straight, and are 16-6 on the season.

"It's funny," Sickles Head Coach Bob Pagano said. "In high school it's about the chemistry, and the chemistry was just off.  But we cleaned it up, and it's great now."

The team isn't just winning, they're starting to dominate their opponents.  In the past six games, they've won five by shutout.

"Our pitcher, they go in and shut teams down," Rodriguez said. "We give them three or four run leads and that's all they really need."

Coach Pagano is just as confident in the pitching, but is somewhat fearful it may become a crutch they rely on too much.

"It can work against you," Pagano points out. "If the pitchers don't go in there and throw the shutout then.. We have to have good batting too.  Lucky for us, that's starting to come around."