Squad Up The division of the baseball team into squads led by each of the assistant coaches added a sense of extra competition to the season.

The baseball team had just finished up one of the first practices of the season. A table was set up for the team’s version of National Signing Day. Instead of deciding on what college they’d be attending, however, underclassmen announced what assistant coach’s squad they would join, throwing them into a season-long clash between other players that had different squad allegiances.

“It’s a pretty intensive process,” Turahn Gordan (10, #22) said. “The seniors get together in the off-season and recruit players they want on their squad.” As intense as the rivalries became, the overall sense of team unity remained. “The squads started my freshman year when the seniors then began to gravitate to their favorite coach,” Harrison Scanlon (11, #32) said. “Once the first team was created around Coach Kevin Whitenack, the rest of the team decided to organize other squads with other coaches.” After Squad Signing Day, the season resumed as normal, with practices leading up to and preparing the team for their first game in March. Despite the normality of daily practices, the competitiveness that was sparked by the formation of the squads remained.

“The squads definitely bring some added fun into the locker room,” Tyler Wojciak (10, #7) said. “We do stuff like having competitions at practice and rap battles between the squads.”

Even though the squads had no other significance than players getting together with their favorite coach, an extra incentive was added once the season started. The squads competed to see what squad could earn the most game balls, given to the player of the game, throughout the season. “The squads are so great because, even though we’re one team, we still have the drive to compete within the team and the squads let that happen in a fun way,” Scanlon said.

That’s The Motto: We made the motto ‘flip the script’ for this year. Last year was a disappointing season, so we’re using the motto as motivation to work harder and change the outcome of this season. Our goal is to reach the regional round of the playoffs, which we haven’t been to since 2009. Joshua Bynum (12, #13) started it [the motto] because he’s a big part of the team and has been on varsity for all four years. But the motto has really helped us target a goal and focus less on statistics and more on the team.” - Brandon Smith (12, #5) Field Farewell

Many students felt the pride that comes with taking the field in their home jerseys, surrounded by their home crowd, and defending their home turf. But for the baseball team, the concept of playing “at home” became a thing of the past.

When the schedule revealed that games would no longer be played at Manual Stadium, but instead at the Derby City Baseball Complex, players had mixed reactions.

“Derby City has nicer facilities and more of a regulation sized field,” Jonathan Lustig (12, #25) said. “As a pitcher, it’s a nice switch because a routine fly ball at Derby City could possibly be a homerun at Manual Stadium.”

Even though Derby City had updated amenities and dimensions that favored pitchers, there was still some sadness shared amongst players about not using Manual Stadium for games.

I like playing at Derby City, but leaving Manual Stadium is like leaving something historic. There’s a lot of sentimental value at Manual Stadium because we’re the ones that take care of everything that goes on with the field and put in all the hours of hard work and practice there,” Lustig said. Thank You Very MULCH Infographic about the flow of their unique fundraising

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