While most students were at home, or lounging on a beach somewhere, the Wildcat varsity baseball team was in Alabama, getting off to a great start on the season.
Currently, the team is sitting at 7-4 and is on a four game winning-streak with their victory over Champaign Centennial on Wednesday, April 8.
Another one of these games included a huge upset over Metamora who they beat 9-1 on Tuesday, April 7.
This team is very young, but is propelled by two seniors, Tanner Nolin (captain) and Beckett Price who have a strong history of baseball at West.
Coach Hawkins had great things to say about his seniors: “They are very important as the nucleus of our team.”
Nolin and Price know that the future of Wildcat baseball relies on the juniors and sophomores.
“They are playing hard, putting in the time, and working to model how things should be done,” Coach Hawkins added.
The seniors are working to be great examples for some of the more inexperienced players on varsity.
Junior players like Chase Reinhart (captain), Sam McCully and sophomore Ty Bachman also have varsity experience and are working to lead the team, as well.
When asked about these players, coach Hawkins replied, “All 3 of these student-athletes performed at high levels in Alabama and raised the level of competition within our team by raising the bar and setting the standard for others to emulate.”
Price was adamant on the young talents on the team saying, “Ty is our best pitcher right now. He has a shutout arm. And Landon Stelte is a really, really good hitter. He’s been batting around .500”
The spring break trip to Alabama really bolstered this team’s confidence and has ultimately given them a great stepping stool for the beginning of the season.
The team went 3-1 while down south, and Coach Hawkins was happy with his teams performance.
“Playing teams that are way ahead of you when it comes to practice, games, and experience exposes things that make for teachable moments,” he added.
The team had their first outdoor practice there, and got some early season experience.
“We played some not-as-good-competition, which was kind of a confidence-booster for our future games,” Price commented.
Along with the in-game chemistry, the team had tons of time outside of games to become a family.
Junior Jayden Floyd emphasized the team’s big time chemistry building, too.
“I don’t really know the team as much before Alabama. But since we’ve been hanging out, it’s been a really good time. these guys are like my brothers, my family,” Floyd said.
As far as the strengths and weaknesses of the team, the seniors had a lot to say.
“I think as of recent we’ve been hitting really good, especially in this last game. I also think we have a lot of selfless players. Nobody has any problems lying down bunts or sacrifice flies. Everyone wants to win. Everyone puts the team above themselves, I think,” Price noted.
There are also several things that could hold the team back as they go further into the season.
“Our main weakness right now is definitely pitching depth. We don’t really have many pitchers that can go long periods and control strikes. We really only have one shut out guy,” Nolin replied.
Coach Hawkins also added that experience will be key moving forward.
“Obviously, varsity game experience is what this team is lacking most when compared to most teams on our schedule,” Hawkins noted.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, the goals from the seniors are “…as a team, our goal is probably to have a positive record. About five hundred. Also to play as much as possible,” Hawkins added.
The boys will take travel to Champaign Centennial again on Friday (April 10), and then will head to Dunlap on Saturday, April 11.
