When I originally scheduled the opening weekend against
Regional powers like North Park, Webster, and Wash U (we were supposed to play
North Central who has been a very strong program as well), I was a little
concerned about our ability to pick up some wins and wondered how we would
handle the disappointment if things didn’t go well. To make matters worse, of the three teams we
played, all of them had already played a weekend series. Webster, coming off a
World Series, North Park won the CCIW, and Wash U. handled us in 2012 and
played in the Regionals was a daunting task for our guys who had yet to
practice outside of the Lamberti Rec. Center.
So, here we sit at 2-1 and I feel that if our line out in
the 1st inning of the Wash. U. game had somehow gotten through to
the outfield rather than leading to a double play, we could be sitting at 3-0
with 3 quality wins. The best thing
about the weekend is that we still made a ton of correctable mistakes and still
played well enough to beat some good teams.
We had a ton of highlights and everyone contributed to our success, but
here are a few highlights.
Jake Bjorkgren (Soph., Urbandale): Came in and recorded 2 saves, including
striking out the last 2 Webster hitters with the bases loaded. He showed a lot of poise and he has really
explosive arm strength. After playing
basketball last year, we knew we had added some depth in our bullpen after a
great fall season.
Joe Paletta (Junior, Millard South): Had tremendous at-bats all weekend and looked
like the best hitter of any of the teams we played this weekend. Hit everything that would have crossed the
plate. Including the conference tournament
last year, Joe is now 21 for his last 37 at-bats.
Weston Foxx (Junior, Elkhorn): Had 6 hits, scored 5 runs, stole 3 bases, and
had great at-bats the entire weekend.
Weston has become very comfortable being our leader on the defensive
end.
Dillon Plath (Soph. Omaha Burke): Had 6 hits, including the biggest one of the
weekend, an RBI triple off a tough left-handed pitcher vs. Webster.
Andrew Marshall (Jr. Sheldon) and Scott Harris (Soph.
Dallas Center-Grimes): Helped shut down
a very good Webster team. Very proud of
all the hard work they have put in over the last few months. They both deserved to get the win, especially
since it took our offense a while to figure out the opposing pitcher.
Brennan Holm (Sr. Fairmont, MN): His longest and best outing of his
career. He kept Wash U. scoreless for
over 3 innings, giving us a chance to try to make a comeback. We had a few tough at-bats when we had
runners in scoring position, but because of our bullpen, we continued to stay
in the game.
Again, those are just a few players I wanted to
highlight. Everyone contributed over the
course of the weekend. We now have a
small break to get everyone healthy, and hopefully get out to the field towards
the end of next week. We then travel to
Nebraska Wesleyan for, what is now, a 3-game series.
