The Harding baseball team was supposed to play their first game of the season today, Feb. 12 \u2014 339 days since they last played. However, the winter weather canceled the game, as well as the two that were to follow over the weekend. Instead, the Bisons will play their first game of the season against East Central University in Searcy on Feb. 19, making it 348 days since the Bisons will have competed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they played their last game of the 2020 season against Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, on March 10, 2020, no one would have been able to predict that it would be their last game of the season, or for some on the baseball team, their last game as a Harding Bison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more excited to play, and I speak for everyone when I say that,\u201d fifth year graduate student Luke Vandover, infielder, said. \u201cTo be able to step out on the field next week and play someone besides ourselves is a huge relief to all of us. We\u2019ve been looking forward to it since the day our season got canceled last year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COVID-19 affected many campus-wide activities, including all collegiate sports. For the baseball team, this included an increase in practice and scrimmaging against themselves, rather than competing against other teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been practicing together almost every day since the beginning of the fall semester and have been playing a lot of games against each other to prepare ourselves to play against outside opponents,\u201d senior outfielder Michael Chrisman said. \u201cWe have an experienced group, and I think there\u2019s a lot to look forward to this season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been a long time coming, but the Bisons are finally able to step up to the plate again. This Bisons group has been through a lot, and they\u2019re banding together and using it to their advantage on the field, every way they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose early games, you always have a lot of emotion, and you\u2019re really fired up to play,\u201d head coach Dr. Patrick McGaha said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we have an older group, and they\u2019ve really been through it together for three or four years now, so I really think they\u2019ll come out and show some maturity as we play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the long duration of time in which they have not played other teams, McGaha said he does not think it will affect their ability to play when the season officially starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the excitement of having been off for so long will be a factor to these guys,\u201d McGaha said. \u201cI think they\u2019ll just go about their business, as they\u2019re a pretty workman-like group. They\u2019ve done a great job to stay healthy and try to make sure we don\u2019t spread COVID within the team. Hopefully we\u2019re going to play our brand of baseball, which is really good defense and throwing a lot of strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visit hardingsports.com for more information and live updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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