The down time between our last game to our next game is 14 days. We played Marietta College on Saturday, March 5th and we will play Heidelberg College on March 19th and 20th. Even though baseball is a sport that is best played on a regular, even a daily basis, this delay is one of the results of being a college team in a northern climate with a spring break in late February/early March. We are one of the fortunate programs that has a turfed field surface, and that makes the opportunities to have quality practices much easier than if we played on natural grass at Adrian College.
So how does a team go from playing almost daily for a week to not playing at all for two weeks? One thing that we have been able to do is play some JV/Reserve games during this time. We played six such games in cold weather last Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We didn't use our varsity starting position players, nor did we have any of our top pitchers throw. Those games were a good opportunity to play some of the guys who did not travel south with us as well as the guys who just need playing time for development and consistency. Tomorrow (Thursday) we play two more JV games before this weekend's games against Heidelberg.
Heidelberg is ranked #1 in the NCAA DIII National polls, and their record is currently 10-0. We are very familiar with them, as we played them three games a year ago and then once again in the Mid-East Regional Tournament. Last year we were on the wrong end of the scores in each game against Heidelberg, but in previous years we have fared much better against them. In saying all that, none of the past really matters any more. The next game is the only one that matters now, and then after that one is played it also becomes history, so again the next one after that will be the most important.
One of the things I have been telling the pitching staff the past few days is that it is important that we believe we are going to win these games, but that as always we have to take them one game at a time, one inning at a time, and one pitch at a time. It is important that each player on the team believes in himself, in his teammates, and in the team. The analogy of the weak link is appropriate. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and by that I explained that I mean we are only as strong as our weakest link mentally!
If any player, even just one, doubts that we are going to beat this weekend's opponent, then that doubt becomes difficult for the rest of the team to overcome. If a team member goes into a game with doubts, but good fortune turns the doubts into belief, then that can help, but if doubts deepen during a stressful inning or misfortune it is tough for a team to overcome those doubts. Personally, I like to doubt the doubter, but I can't control the thoughts of the entire squad and coaching staff.
Today we talked about visualization again. I want the pitchers to practice visualizing hitting specific spots with their pitches, and to imagine them being able to expand their strike zone as they get ahead in the count and thus visualize pitches 3-4 inches out of the zone as well as the pitches on the edges of the strike zone. The need to be able to envision their pitches being swung at and missed, and they also need to be able to mentally see pitches which are hit by the handle of the bat and the end of the bat. It is important that they visualize success in several different ways. Proper and positive visualization will lead to more consistently good execution.
As for these two upcoming games against the nation's top ranked DIII team, we have already been there and done that. As was mentioned above, we have been battling with Heidelberg for several years now in the Regionals, and we faced them four times last year. We have beaten them in huge games before, much bigger games than this weekend's games.
We are also 2-2 this season against ranked teams already. We split with #8 Marietta and split with #24 Millsaps College. I would bet that unbiased observers who may have seen our games against those teams might even say we are a better team than both of them. It really doesn't matter in mid-March. When it does matter will be when (or if) we play them in May, and that is when it will come down to execution as well as belief.
I believe we are going to win this weekend. Most of all, I believe that our players are going to execute tremendously and are going to give a 100% effort for all 500 or so pitches that will be thrown in these two games!!
I can't wait!!
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