This past weekend against North Dakota State was eventful. They are a solid team with talented players. Going into to the series we were looking to put up a fight after losing the series to Southern Utah. Unfortunately we were unable to come out and do that for the first game. Rich Mascheri had a quality start but we were just overmatched in game one. Like all series, the first game is the one that sets the tone for the games to come. In the second game we had an entirely different mindset. Dustin Hunter always gives us his best performance and we got a good one from him, only allowing three earned runs and striking out nine picking up a complete game. This was his first complete game of the season. Offensively, Kedroski continued to drive the ball well.
With storms coming and going, we were forced to play the doubleheader on Sunday. The first game on Sunday did not go as well as planned, we came out sluggish and did not show much intensity on the field. Both our pitching staff and hitters struggled to do what was needed to make adjustments throughout the game. During the break between games we all came together and talked about how we want to approach the rest of the games in the season. We all agree that things are not going the way we saw them at the start of the year. We realized that the most important part of the game is to have fun and we talked about different tactics and changes that need to be made in order for us to be successful. We showed it immediately during the second game. Russell gave a great effort only giving up only two earned runs on only three hits while striking out seven. It came down to our defense plays and a key situational hitting. It was a fun game to watch and to be a part of that as a team was special.
This team is going to make strides and we hopefully we will find ourselves at the top of the league here shortly. Baseball is a game where all of the focus needs to be on the task at hand, its one game at a time. After each game the reset button is pushed and you are back to stage one where you need to prepare for battle again the same way you would after a win or a loss. With our home stretch coming to an end we will prepare for our upcoming series with Oral Roberts. Last year was Western split with ORU but we know it could have been much better for the Leathernecks. A hard week of practice and a focused mindset will prepare us for game one on Friday.
“Not all people are allowed to wear purple, it is only a select few the are chosen to wear the color that holds such power.”
Junior Pitcher Brian Loconsole
