Hillsdale College Baseball Week 7: Spring Break Part 1

Every season we have the privilege of leaving the cold weather of southern Michigan for some sunshine and baseball down South. This year we spent this past weekend in Louisville, Kentucky at Bellarmine University.

During the weekend we played four nine inning games, two against Truman State University and two against Bellarmine University. Of course we go into every weekend with the expectation to win every game we play. This weekend did not end up like we expected as we dropped all four games.

On Saturday we played Truman State in the first game and then Bellarmine in the nightcap. Our pitching did not perform up to our standards as we gave up eight runs in the first game and 11 in the second one. On Sunday we played the same schedule as the previous day and had some improvements. We lost the first one against Truman State 5-2 and the second one against Bellarmine 4-2. Although we got better from Saturday to Sunday, we still feel like we need to improve quicker and more consistently.

After our second game on Sunday, we loaded up on the bus for a 15 hour drive down to Clearwater, FL. We arrived in the sunshine state around 9:30 a.m. on Monday and checked into our hotel. We had some time to relax and catch up on sleep until our practice at 4:00 that afternoon. While most of the team was at the hotel, everyone that struck out looking, walked a leadoff batter, or missed a sign over the weekend in Kentucky was on laundry duty and took the hotel shuttle to the laundromat in Clearwater.

Our practice was held at Jack Russell Stadium, former Spring Training home of the Philadelphia Phillies, where we will be playing most of our games during the week. Between March 11 and March 15 we will play eight nine inning games against teams from all over the country. These will be the last games we play before we head back up to Michigan and start conference play. Our goal for this week is to get on a roll and carry it into our conference schedule so we can make a playoff run.

Having so many games in one week has its advantages. Playing 72 innings in five days will force us to use our bench players and bullpen depth more. Having more guys get game experience before we start the conference schedule will make us that much better and deeper and better prepared as a whole.

Be sure to look out for next week’s edition to see how we did on our Florida trip!