Born Into Baseball

It's not much of a stretch to say that Cameron Mavroulis was born to play baseball. By the time he was three years old, he was hitting off a tee, trying to knock the ball over his family's house. Boswell's junior shortstop is eyeing a different target these days: a second consecutive district championship. In 2007, he was a sophomore starter on a senior-laden Pioneers team that advanced four rounds deep in the playoffs. Cameron is being asked to shoulder an even bigger load this season. He has moved up in the batting order from the ninth spot to leadoff, where he is expected to be one of the team's primary run producers. And if that's not enough pressure, the team's first-year head coach, Jim Mavroulis, is Cameron's father. The elder Mavroulis, who has been coaching baseball for 28 years, said he doesn't mind admitting that he expects more out of his son than any other player. "Coaches' boys all over the state, they'll all tell you the same thing," Jim Mavroulis said. "They have to be bigger, faster and stronger than everybody else." Luckily for Cameron, he's had years of preparation. Cameron watched as older brothers Coby and Cory played for their dad in high school. Coby went on to star at Texas A&M and was drafted by the Washington Nationals, while Cory played for a season at Abilene Christian. Every lesson Jim Mavroulis imparted on the older boys, Cameron can recite by heart. "That's all he knows," Jim Mavroulis said. "He's grown up going to the ballpark. ... And he pretty much knows what I'm going to tell him before I say anything." That's not to say Cameron's success has come easy. Last year, Cameron's first on varsity, the Pioneers had a void in the middle of the infield. Jim Mavroulis, an assistant on the team, volunteered his son for the job because of his athleticism. Cameron, who had always been an outfielder, said he felt lost early last season. The shortstop is the quarterback of the infield and is involved almost every time a batter puts the ball in play. He found himself thinking too much, rushing his movements and, as a result, committing errors. "I didn't want to play it anymore," Cameron said. But he learned to deal with the ups and downs. Not only was he the team's best option at shortstop, his dad wasn't about to let him give up. "I kind of looked at it as a challenge," Cameron said. "I'm not going to let them find somebody else." They're not looking for somebody to take Cameron's place now. The younger Mavroulis, who was an all-district receiver on the football team, has settled into his role on the baseball diamond. The pace feels slower. The ball seems easier to hit and field. And the coach's aggressive style of play suits Cameron fine. "He has a motto of scoring 10 runs a game," Cameron said. "If you score that many, you will win 90 percent of the time." Added Jim Mavroulis: "We're not up there trying to do a lot of hitting and running. We're trying to drive the ball in the gaps and score runs. ... Our whole thing is we want to hit the baseball." Just before taking the field for a tournament game on a chilly February evening, the Mavroulises are wearing yellow hats with blue bills and sporting similar-looking goatees. As similar as they appear, their most obvious shared trait is their passion for the game. "Baseball is always going to be the highest of the high," Cameron said. "It's something different from every other sport." For one who feels so at home on a baseball field, Cameron, not surprisingly, said it just seems natural to share the dugout with his dad. "I would have it no other way," Cameron said. "I don't think I could play for anybody else." Not that he has a choice.