Key Improvement Piece Will Be Pitching For Wayne State Baseball

Key Improvement Piece Will Be Pitching For Wayne State Baseball
Courtesy of Wayne State Athletics.

WAYNE – As the NSIC Baseball Tournament is underway, the Wayne State College baseball team is already preparing to put their best on the diamond come next year to extend their season.

The Wayne State College baseball team closed out their 2021 schedule with a home split last Wednesday, May 5. WSC defeated Upper Iowa 9-8 in eight innings before falling 9-4 in game number 34 of the season.

The Wildcats ended the year with a 12-22 overall record and 11-19, 11th place finish in league play.

Alex Koch recently completed his seventh season as head coach with the Wildcat baseball program. He said an improvement will need to happen on the mound.

“We had high expectations this year and really underperformed,” said Koch. “It starts on the mound; we’ve got to be better on the mound. That’s going to start with off-season workouts this year.”

WSC went 5-13 at home from the WSC Pete Chapman Baseball Complex and 7-9 on the road. The Wildcats had a three-game road series at Minnesota Crookston and a road doubleheader at Concordia-St. Paul canceled due to COVID-19.

Coach Koch added the team is already getting after it with postseason workouts and preparing to play in their respective summer ball leagues.

“We’ve kind of got a mix of guys heading out for summer ball and guys that are just going to stay around and train,” Koch added. “And guys that will go home and work jobs and train. They know what they need to work on and we’re looking forward to the challenge next fall already.”

Baseball teams in the NSIC returned plenty of experience and coach Koch mentioned the team also faced adversity with injuries and COVID-19 protocols.

“Kind of not knowing who we were going to have week-to-week,” Koch mentioned. “The first half of the season, it seemed like we didn’t have the same line-up in the whole time. It’s a deep conference and a challenge. We need to strive this summer and this fall to get better so we can get back towards the top.”

Throughout the season, the Wayne State College baseball team would test 25% of their roster every other Monday. But when the team saw a bit of an uptick, they were then testing up to three times a week.

The Wayne State College baseball coaching staff will be bouncing back-and-forth between Lincoln and Omaha during the State Baseball Championships this weekend into next. Along with hitting the road hard during the legion season, coach Koch is wanting to visit the bordering states of Nebraska recruiting for their 2022 class.

Wildcat coaches also worked with around 50 kids during a youth baseball pitching camp from late April through early May.

Share:
Comments