Baseball team struggles, drops two more

Lack of numbers and inexperience prevent win

Inexperience and luck of numbers seem to be the main factors behind the baseball team's current inability to win a game. The team lost both doubleheaders this week, 6-1 and 9-1 to Ohio Wesleyan University and 14-4, 17-4 to Thomas More.

Junior Brendan Cody was one of the few Yeomen to get a hit, but with his mother in attendance he was still dejected. "I was sad because we lost and my mom had to see it."

Coach Tom Mooney is more optimistic. "It's tough to remember where we started from a year ago," he said. "We are doing a lot of things much better. Our pitching staff is better. We're hitting the ball more consistently."

Mooney is ready to admit that all is not perfect, however. "At the same time we're making lots of silly errors and losing games," he said. "A lot of the time that overshadows the accomplishments the team has been making."

The coach mentioned two players in particular who have helped out the team immensely. "[ Sophomore] Carson Kieble has been throwing fantastic," he said. "[Junior] Nate Walsh has done a great job holding us together. He's been playing second base and a little bit of third, and I believe he's leading the team in hitting."

Even with these strong individual efforts the team still has six or seven new players on a squad of only about 17. About the team's inexperience, Mooney said, "A lot of the mistakes we're making are being corrected far too many times. There are many aspects of the game of baseball that should not need to be corrected at this level. We've got some good but un-experienced talent that just needs to keep playing the game of baseball."

As for the team's lack of players, Mooney said, "I don't want the low numbers to be an excuse, we know we need numbers. Next spring we'll be up to the numbers a baseball team out to have."

Cody said "It's tough to look across at the other team's dug-out and see 80 guys. 80 big guys."

Mooney thinks his team is a good one and could be just as competitive as any team in the conference except for the mental errors made with inexperience. "Our team is a little bit fragile mentally," he said. "We can play with the other teams in the conference, but if things go wrong we tend to go to sleep and by the time we wake-up it's too late to catch up."

The coach knows his team is capable of much better. "This the best way to look at it," Mooney said. "I know what the kids are capable of and when we get the kids to believe that we'll start winning games. We're not a bad baseball team, that's what is so frustrating. I'm not sure they understand what they're capable of."

The team plays Wittenberg University tomorrow, Bluffton College on Tuesday, and Urbana College on Thursday.

King of the Hit: The Yeomen lost both games against Thomas More on Monday, losing 14-4 and 17-4. (photo by Dave Smith)