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DOUGLAS — Todd Inglehart’s 13th year at the helm of the Cochise College baseball program proved unlucky indeed. Coming off a 41-18 season that saw the Apaches reach the finals of the NJCAA Region I playoffs, the team took a severe step backward in 2011, posting a mark of 27-27 and missing out on the postseason for only the second time in eight years.

“It was very humbling,” Inglehart said. “It was time to start fresh… The sense of urgency went up two or three notches. My ego and passion to win is always going to be there. You always want to prove your program is the best and I can’t imagine any coach being any different. I felt our program got humbled. It was only one year, but to me, that’s enough.”

Cleaning house started with telling a number of last year’s freshmen they weren’t invited back for another year to free up more slots on the roster. When the Apaches open their season on Friday in Las Vegas against Southern Nevada Community College, only five returning sophomores will be on the field.

Among them is shortstop Maxime Lefevre from France. Long a bastion for players from faraway countries, including those where baseball is seldom played, Cochise has dialed back its international recruiting some with this class. Other than pitcher Kenton Schroeder from British Columbia and returning sophomore Jesus Urbina from Venezuela, Lefevre is the lone international player.

Lefevre came to Cochise on a reference from former Apache outfielder Kenji Hagiwara, who played at Cochise from 2007-08 and is currently Lefevre’s teammate on the French national team.

“I saw a video of him, and when you watch him take two ground balls, it’s all over,” Inglehart said. “He has all the tools and looks the part —he’s very stylish and flashy. His issue last year was he had trouble making the routine plays. He’d make the great plays that make the people in the stands say, ‘wow’, but he had difficulty making the average play.”

Lefevre agrees with that assessment, but expects to be much more solid in the field in his second year playing full-time in the States.

“Now I’m more mature, that’s going to be the difference,” Lefevre said. “I noticed I can slow the game down now. I think I’m a better player; a better person, too.”

Inglehart said Lefevre needs to be more consistent at the plate as well after hitting .257 and stealing 37 bases, almost all of them coming in the early part of the season before teams began scouting him and containing him on the basepaths. 

“He was never overmatched, he just had poor at bats at crucial times,” Inglehart said. “He’s a guy who needs to be patient. He should lead off, but until he shows he has the patience, he’ll bat toward the bottom of the lineup… If he’s patient enough and gets on base, he could steal 40 to 50 bases this year.”

Born in the Paris suburb of Enghien-les-bains, Lefevre followed in the footsteps of his older brother, who played all sorts of sports not common to the French palate.

“My brother was at first a soccer player, and then he played football and then he started to play baseball,” Lefevre said. “He’s like my father, so he showed me the way… It was cool to explain to everybody what it was because it was a different sport and I was the only one playing it.”

At 13, Lefevre left home to attend the lone baseball academy in France, Pôle France de Rouen. Being part of the academy allowed Lefevre to travel the world and helped him overcome any culture shock or homesickness last season in Douglas.

“I was by myself (at the academy), so I was pretty much used to it,” he said. “It wasn’t my first time in the U.S.”

Lefevre was disappointed to see baseball removed as a medal sport in the Summer Olympics. Until it returns, Lefevre hopes to represent his country in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, but sets his ultimate goal at playing for pay. 

“I want to play pro ball here or in Holland or Japan,” said Lefevre, who signed with Division I Arkansas-Little Rock in the preseason. “I really just want to make the sport my life.”

On the infield, Lefevre will be joined by the Venezuelan Urbina, the Apaches’ most consistent offensive threat last season, who moved in from the outfield out of necessity after undergoing labrum surgery on his throwing arm.

“He’s still recovering, still learning how to throw again,” Inglehart said.

Also in the infield is one of Inglehart’s top recruits, Zach Rodgers, a 5-9, 160-pound freshman from Ironwood High in Glendale.

“He’s going to a be two-way guy. He’s going to be in our rotation as well as play infield,” Inglehart said. “He’s an undersized guy that plays with a chip on his shoulder. If he was two or three inches taller, he’d be a D-I player out of high school. But he’s got Division I ability and he’s always trying to prove that.”

Inglehart has also brought in Jason Parks of Basha to start at catcher and Kellen Maruffo from Sabino to start at first. But the real strength of his recruiting class, Inglehart said, is in the outfield, a part of the lineup he’s always struggled to find depth for.

Nate Hale from Las Vegas starts in center field and hits leadoff to start the season and Francisco Salas from San Diego starts in left and figures to be among the team’s top RBI sources.

On the mound, the Apaches return just two sophomores in Braulio Hernandez from Albuquerque and Bubba Blau from Roy, Utah.

Inglehart said he’s still trying to find his pitching depth beyond the two returners and Rodgers.

“We’re kind of young, but everybody loves the game of baseball and I think we’re going to do pretty good,” Hernandez said. “You’ve just gotta play the game with your heart. Don’t try to overdo things, just play the sport the right way and have fun.”

After four games in Las Vegas to start the season, the Apaches play their home opener on Feb. 3 with a doubleheader against El Paso Community College.

Herald/Review sports editor Matt Hickman can be reached at 515-4612 or by e-mail at sports@svherald.com.