The Truman State University baseball team has had a rough start to its season, dropping its first 12 games, with its most recent series against the University of Indianapolis from March 19-21.
Despite the rough start to the season, Head Coach Dan Davis still finds ways to stay positive.
“There definitely is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Davis said. “I scheduled tough teams to start the season off, knowing that they were going to be good. It did not start off the way we wanted to, but we have been starting to press more.”
Davis mentioned that this past weekend was one of the best performances he has seen from the team this season. Despite not scoring many runs, players were hitting hard and getting on base. The next key will be to drive those runs home, which will begin to make Truman more competitive in the conference, Davis said.
Davis said that pitching has been facing a huge burden this season.
“Our pitching has been adequate,” Davis said “It’s almost like the pitchers need to be perfect if we know that we are going to score only one or two runs. They feel like they have to throw a shutout every time.”
One of the benefits of the rocky start to the season is that young players have had a chance to prove themselves during playing time.
Davis said he is especially impressed with Brennan Perkins’s work and the youth on the pitching staff as well, with two freshmen starting on the weekends and the bullpen almost entirely composed of underclassmen. He noted that it has been fun to watch them play and grow to be better players.
Davis also mentioned that although it is never easy to go on a losing streak, team morale has stayed high, and despite some frustrations, noticeable improvements are being made.
“It’s not like we are hitting any kind of a panic button or try to reinvent the game,” he said, “It is all about getting better at what you do, and that is what we are going to continue to do.”
While the freshmen have been impressing Davis, he said he is also very hopeful for the short-term future of this team. Davis praised Connor Mckenna as a tremendous player, saying that his numbers don’t tell the whole story and he gives Truman a chance to win the game every time he steps on the mound.
Jake Schneider and Reid Wilson were also praised for their toughness and reliability on the field.
Truman will face the University of Illinois-Springfield at home this weekend from March 26-28. Despite the strong start the University of Illinois-Springfield has had this season, Davis said he expects this to be a competitive series and is confident in his team’s abilities against top 10 opponents.
The first game against the University of Illinois-Springfield will be Friday at 3 p.m. and is viewable on the GLVC Sports Network.