{"id":8332,"date":"2020-04-18T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=8332"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:27:57","slug":"hefner-continues-hot-start-then-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/hefner-continues-hot-start-then-stops\/","title":{"rendered":"Hefner continues hot start, then stops"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former Madera Coyotes baseball standout Brian Hefner was continuing his sophomore year at Fresno Pacific University right where he left off as a freshman.<\/p>

Then, in an instant, his season was canceled.<\/p>

Hefner batted .288 last season and led the team with six home runs, 14 doubles, 85 total bases and a .480 slugging percentage to also go with 11 stolen bases to tie for the team lead.<\/p>

This season, Hefner was batting .309 with five doubles and 12 RBIs to go with 13 runs scored and five stolen bases.<\/p>

\u201cI picked up from last year. We had a very good team during the fall practices. I was so excited. Our team was looking way better than we were last year. I was doing all right. I was the only one out of my batting practice teammates not to hit a home run.\u201d<\/p>

Hefner, who really hasn\u2019t touched a baseball since his season was canceled is back in Madera.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve been working out,\u201d Hefner said. \u201cThey closed the school and dorms so I\u2019m back in Madera.\u201d<\/p>

Before his season was suspended, Hefner and the Sunbirds were in Southern California to face Azusa Pacific in the second PacWest Conference series of the season.<\/p>

On March 12, a night game was rained out and the next day, the season was suspended.<\/p>

\u201cOn the bus ride there, we got an e-mail that the Div. I schools were closing,\u201d Hefner said. \u201cI was thinking no way. I figured if the Div. I canceled their season, I figured we were next. The next day, there was an announcement that the Pacific West Conference season was suspended. We were supposed to return a few weeks later to resume the series, but the whole season got canceled the week after that. We were about to win the series, but couldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>

At first, Hefner said the conference told the team they were suspending games for a couple of weeks.<\/p>

\u201cWe thought we would have a few weeks of practice without games,\u201d he said. \u201cA couple of days after that, we found out everything else was canceled. I couldn\u2019t believe it. Baseball, NBA and I still can\u2019t believe. It\u2019s wild everything is closed down.\u201d<\/p>

Although campus is closed, Hefner still regularly attends classes online.<\/p>

\u201cI have online classes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey take attendance online so you have to go to classes anyway.\u201d<\/p>

Like with Div. I NCAA athletes, Hefner said he will get a year of eligibility back playing for the Div. II Sunbirds.<\/p>

\u201cYou have to say you want it and go sign something,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can all get a year back. I\u2019m not sure all our seniors are coming back. One is coming back to finish a couple of classes. The other seniors are graduating, but I\u2019m not too sure. We have new recruits coming in. We\u2019ll see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>

Last season, Hefner played every game, primarily at first base. However, this season, Hefner made the switch to right field, a position he never played during his days at Madera.<\/p>

\u201cThe coach wanted to get me as much playing experience as I could the first year,\u201d Hefner said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a first baseman. I was playing outfield this whole year. It was a big change. I only played outfield in high school in a couple of practices. I got used to playing in right field. It took me a couple of series. I fractured my ankle in the second series and was running around there on a broke ankle. It\u2019s fine now. It\u2019s still swollen, but it doesn\u2019t hurt to walk on it.\u201d<\/p>

Hefner made the switch to help the team. Since he felt he was athletic enough to adapt to the outfield, he asked the coach to make the switch to allow another bat in the line up.<\/p>

\u201cWe had a senior who isn\u2019t fast and the only position he could play was designated hitter and first base,\u201d Hefner said \u201cI said I could play the outfield, play him at first and have another hitter DH. I asked the coach at practice to take fungoes in the outfield. A week later I was starting in right field. I told him I wanted first base to be open. I was able to show off my arm a little bit.\u201d<\/p>

However, by playing the outfield, Hefner had to work on his focus more. At first base, he is closer to the action and is involved in almost every play. In right field, though, plays are fewer to come by.<\/p>

\u201cYou have to learn how to stay focused,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to watch the baseball. Whenever you lose focus, it seems the ball gets hit to you. You have to be focused out there. A couple of times I forgot to back up a bag and got yelled at. It was a learning experience. It was cool, but way different than playing first base.\u201d<\/p>

The Sunbirds were 13-9 overall and 2-2 in the conference. Hefner felt this team could have been a conference-winning team.<\/p>

\u201cI have mixed feelings about it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe year was going really good for us. I had a feeling we were going to win the conference. I feel kind of weird about it with everything just canceled for the year. Me and a couple of other guys on the team were hitting at All-League status. It sucks for them, too. It sucks for everyone.\u201d<\/p>

Hefner is in the second year at Fresno Pacific, majoring in business management.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what I\u2019m going to do with that. I mainly went to school for baseball. It would be a good degree to have. I want to get into the business field and have my own business. I don\u2019t know what it is. I still have a little bit of time to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Madera Coyotes baseball standout Brian Hefner was continuing his sophomore year at Fresno Pacific University right where he left off as a freshman. Then, in an instant, his season was canceled. Hefner batted .288 last season and led the team with six home runs, 14 doubles, 85 total bases and a .480 slugging percentage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":26640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-8332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}