Baseball swings into the offseason

Baseball endured an unfortunate loss against La Salle High School in their first playoff game on Tues. May 16, wrapping up the 2017 season.Desmond Bunting (’17) reflected on the season with some mild discontent and stating the team’s 12-17 record does not capture their true talent.“Overall, the season was disappointing,” Bunting said “There were a lot of games we should have won, but we ended up beating ourselves.”Likewise, Jesús Gonzalez (’17) felt as though the team did not live up to their full potential. Gonzalez, however, accredits the sentiments of dissatisfaction to a lack of confidence between team members. “I would’ve liked the team to have more confidence in each other this year,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez believes that if the boys had a greater sense of trust and stability, they would have been able to come out on top in some of the harder games. Although the team did not anticipate a loss for the playoff game, they were confident that they played to the best of their abilities in this particular game.  “At the end of the day, you win some and you lose some, and this year we just didn’t come out on top,” Bunting said. Nevertheless, the Vikings did see good moments on the field and in the dugout. Their season was studded with high points and low points, as with a new coach, the team had to adjust to a different coaching style.“It is nice to have a new coaching staff, especially since they are far better than what we’d had the previous two years,” Bunting said. Games persisted to be tough but according to the team, practices improved immeasurably from those of past years. Coach Adam Klein was very proud of the way in which the boys accepted and adapted to the new coaching style presented this year.“As coaches, we understand that it is going to take a few years for everyone to not only fully embrace what we are trying to do but also successfully apply what we are teaching them,” Klein said. According to Gonzalez, the camaraderie among team members helped in overcoming errors on the field.“In some better moments we came from behind when losing and ended up getting the win,” Gonzalez said. “We were able to defeat some really skilled teams this year which made this season memorable.”Klein admits that although the season wasn’t perfect, the team demonstrated glimpses of what they are capable of achieving. He attributes the highlight of the season to the pitching that happened on field. Klein is enthusiastic about starting as early as summer to begin building on the plays and strategies that perspired this season. Despite the losses, the boys were grateful for a team-building season. “Our pitchers continued to get better as the season progressed, giving us a chance to win just about every single game,” Klein said. “My goal and emphasis is to not just develop the fundamentals of the game, but create mental toughness, which we will be doing a lot of this summer,” Klein said.