Although your frozen hair may suggest otherwise, baseball season has arrived.
The Hillsdale College baseball team will open play this Saturday as the Chargers travel to Augusta, Georgia, to play a three-game set against Paine College. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday followed by a single game on Sunday.
Third-year head coach Eric Theisen expressed the importance of getting off to a fast start.
“I have talked a lot in the past about how we want to hit our peak in May,” Theisen said. “This year we want to to hit our peak sooner and stay there.”
Senior captain Mitchell Gatt, a right-handed pitcher, echoed this sentiment and explained the structure of this year’s team.
“We have a lot of experience coming from our seniors, which is always good,” he said. “Behind them we have a big freshmen class pushing them and trying to win a starting position. That is making everyone better ball players.”
When Gatt calls the freshmen class big, he is not overstating it. The team has 15 new members this year, the largest incoming class in Theisen’s time at Hillsdale.
“We are graduating 11 seniors after this year, so we really wanted to add depth through this class. This means that these young guys can have a year with the seniors and learn from them,” Theisen said.
These freshmen, however, will not simply sit and watch this season. In fact, Theisen expects many of them to see some playing time and make an immediate impact.
One such freshman is Jonathan Lapshan, who will be the lone left-handed pitcher on the team. This means that Lapshan could be utilized in a variety of roles right away. This prospect excites Lapshan.
“Prior to his year I was always a starting pitcher, but with the circumstances it’s likely I’ll be a reliever, which is fine by me,” Lapshan said. “In the end, team comes first.”
Despite his confidence, Lapshan admits that the collegiate game is on another level, and that there has been an adjustment period for the freshmen.
“Most of us in high school were physically bigger and stronger than most of the other high school athletes we faced,” he said. “Now, with teammates who are 21 and 22 years old, it’s humbling to see how athletic and strong they are.”
For every member of the team, freshmen and seniors alike, the goal is to win the GLIAC championship. Gatt explained that although this is the goal every year, in the past the biggest obstacle has been mental toughness, rather than on-field talent.
“It seems that sometimes when we lose a game we start to panic,” Gatt said. “This year when we lose a game we want to calm ourselves down and move on to the next one. We aren’t trying to be undefeated. We have to put those games aside.”
The first step towards this goal would be making the GLIAC playoffs, which are reserved for the top six teams in the conference, something that Theisen believes is within reach.
“This is a big, confident group of guys, and so we’re looking forward to letting them go have some fun and seeing what they can do,” he said.
Assistant coach Gordie Theisen — who is head coach Eric Theisen’s father, volunteer assistant Pat Dillon, and former Hillsdale player Shane Armstrong ‘15 will round out the coaching staff for the season. This will be Armstrong’s first season as a coach, but Theisen believes that he has already made a mark.
“Having Shane on the staff has been huge,” Theisen said. “It has let us spread out a little bit more, which is always a positive. He is a really hard worker. You want to get ‘the H’ to as many places as possible.”
Armstrong noted that having just graduated gives him a unique angle when it comes to recruiting.
“When I go watch guys I am able to compare them to players that I played with, or against, while at Hillsdale,” he said. “That gives me a pretty good idea of who we should target. Then it’s all about trying to get them to come here.”
Although the team has been unable to practice on their field as of yet, they have made the most of the opportunities provided by the unusually warm winter. The team has been using the turf football field to conduct full speed scrimmages, Theisen said.
“Sometimes these early games and practices can show a little rust, and put a little bit of wear and tear on the guys,” Theisen said. “But when you get down there you have no choice but to be ready to play, and we will be.”