The men’s baseball team season started off on a high note with a record of seven wins and only three losses. Seniors and captains John Swiderski and Darwin Townsend are focusing on doing well this weekend and earning a good record all season.
“Our first goal is to win our Florida tournament. We have a total of twelve games down there and we expect to have a winning record,” Swiderski said. “The next big goal is to win conference regular season, and by doing this we’ll have to win the series each weekend… Our final goal is to be in regional for the national tournament, then head to the college world series.”
Both captains believe that their record has a lot to do with the amount of talent the team has this season.
“There’s been a lot of younger guys that have shown us they can perform at a varsity level. There’s also been some older guys that have proven that hard work pays off,” Swiderski said. “The seniors are very hungry for success this year.”
Townsend agreed.
“The thing about our team is that we all believe we have the talent and skillset to compete with any team,” Townsend said.
Keeping the team strong and ready is a priority for the captains.
“We’ve done a good job with helping develop the younger guys,” Townsend said. “We have a huge freshman class and a strong sophomore and junior class. Outside of winning games, our goal is to help them develop and bring out the best in them.”
This preparation will help the team face their many upcoming challenges. This week, the team will be attending a tournament hosted in Fort Meyer, Fla.
Swiderski and Townsend believe this tournament will help the team for games further down the road, such as their conference game.
“The goal is to obviously win the games but also to get ourselves ready for conference coming up,” Townsend said. “The reason you play at the end of the day is to win the national championship, but you have to take it one game at a time.”
The baseball team’s first game of the tournament will be against the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 3 p.m. on Thursday. On Friday through Sunday, the Vikings will play Bethel College, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Amherst College.