The Harding baseball team will play the first game of the season against Augustana College on Saturday, Jan. 31.
The team has been focusing on improving the starting pitching in practices. According to head baseball coach, Patrick McGaha, the starting pitching last season was not ideal.
“Our bullpen had to assume more innings, and were responsible for more innings than we really wanted them to usually have to pitch,” McGaha said. “Hopefully this year, our starting pitching will go a little deeper in the games and not stress our bullpen so much.”
McGaha said he believes the pitchers’ experiences from last season will help improve their games.
“It’s just a little different mindset when you’re older and have been through it before,” McGaha said. “This group has a very, very good work ethic. Our pitching staff has put themselves in a good position this year because they’re physically ready to go.”
The team has been working on physical conditioning since the week of Aug. 24.
Half of the team’s leadership council, the baseball team’s version of team captains, is composed of pitchers. The two pitchers on the leadership council are senior Josh Spears, and junior Collin Campbell.
Campbell said his pre-game ritual before pitching includes drinking a Mountain Dew and reading the Bible. He said reading Scripture reminds him of his motivation for playing.
“Each opportunity I get to pitch, I have the opportunity of glorifying God and being a Christian example for everyone to see,” Campbell said. “That motivates me to continue working hard.”
Junior infielder John Chapman, also on the leadership council, said his motivation comes from focusing on his teammates and doing well for them.
Both Chapman and Campbell said they are striving to win the Great American Conference Tournament. Even though pitching was not perfect last season, McGaha said the team has a chance of winning the tournament due to how much pitching and defense is stressed this season.
“To win consistently in baseball, you have to have good pitching and good defense, and those are going to be our two biggest strengths this year,” McGaha said. “I feel like our pitching and defense is going to keep us pretty competitive and give us a chance to win ballgames.”
Chapman said he believes any future successes depend on the team realizing that the group is more important than the individual.
“‘The bottom line is that you are not the bottom line,’ coach (Andy) Schatzley says that,” Chapman said. “If all the guys on the team can individually realize and accept that Harding baseball as a whole is much more important than their own personal goals or stats, then we will be a very successful team.”
The baseball team will play at least 50 games this season, from Jan. 31-April 25.
