By Jackson Keenan, Assistant Editor
After a bounce back season in 2024 the Crusaders Baseball team looks to continue their success from last year.
For Crusaders Head Coach Mike Stawski, his team is looking to take this season one step at a time as the Cru continues through their first few weeks of non-conference play
“We need to win game one, then we got to win the first series. And then you start talking about having a good first three weeks. That’s really when you can kind of figure out who’s who,” Stawski said
The Cru’s first series was against the Austin College Kangaroos. The Cru won all three games in the series, completing the series sweep.
Although Austin College is 0-6 currently, Senior Riley Bender commented on how a sweep is still a great achievement.
“We swept Austin College. And say what you want, but anytime you can sweep a series in college baseball, I think that’s a great achievement. And I think especially against Austin College, we were firing on all cylinders,” said Bender
One of the biggest surprises on the weekend was the freshman pitching.
Freshmen Alex Hill, Kolby Mcbee, Preston Blake and Carter Kammalah all saw three plus innings on the mound in the series.
Another pitcher who saw significant playing time was senior James McGlumphy who went three innings giving up no runs in the weather shortened start.
McGlumphy describes why the pitcher’s found success during the series against the Roo’s
“The pitchers do not want to give away free bases. We want to make sure that we’re not walking people and we’re making sure that they’re having to earn everything,” McGlumphy said.
Beyond the pitching, the hitters also performed well, bringing in 31 runs on the weekend. This included four home runs, 37 hits and 21 stolen bases.
After their first series, the Crusaders have been battling their biggest opponents in the weather. This is due to the postponement of three games and the cancellation of one which has led to the playing a single game against the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs.
That game saw the Crusaders come up short against the Bulldogs in a 5-4 game.
The Cru took a early lead in the first inning when Bender hit a homerun that scored two. Then the Bulldogs came back scoring two runs in the second inning. The Cru would take the lead again after a single in the gap scored one. However, the Bulldogs would score three straight, now leading the game 3-5. The Cru would attempt to mount a comeback after a potential double that scored one was called back due to Senior Outfielder Tyler Martin missing first base according to the umpire.
The Cru would still score one, however the Bulldogs would close the door on the Crusaders taking the win via a score of 4-5.
Although the weather and recent loss has given the Cru some adversity, Bender says that handling adversity is something of a strong suit for this squad.
“We’ve had some problems with the weather as far as our games are getting canceled and our practices are getting pushed inside, and we’re throwing live in the gym, but as a team, we’re really good at handling adversity,” Bender said.
The Crusaders hope to get back into the win column this week against Concordia University on Tuesday Feb. 25 and Southwestern University on Wednesday Feb. 26.
EDITOR’S NOTE – For the latest game coverage visit our website at www.umhb.edu/thebells
