Baseball struggles in opening weekend
Toreros win one out of four against Morehead State
KELLY MCPHERSON
CONTRIBUTOR
University of San Diego Toreros baseball kicked off this weekend with their home opener against Morehead State at Fowler Park. The Toreros had a four game series with a doubleheader on Saturday.
The Toreros felt confident going into their home opener and have high expectations for the upcoming season. Senior pitcher Brady Kirkpatrick was ready for the exciting atmosphere that came with opening weekend.
“We are very excited heading into opening weekend,” Kirkpatrick said. “There is nothing like playing baseball on opening day. We are very confident that everything we have done in the weight room, and on the field has prepared us for this first weekend.”
The team has been working extremely hard and has been growing and bonding. Redshirt junior pitcher Wes Judish has seen improvement over the offseason and expects that to translate to the field.
“We have been preparing all year for this,” Judish said. “We have gone through tough workouts together and survived a 38 hour weekend of pure baseball. We still have a lot to prepare for as the season goes on.”
The Toreros have worked extremely hard since the end of the 2014 season, both on and off the field. When speaking to senior catcher Spencer Dunlap, he shared the mental and physical preparation that the team has been putting in during the offseason.
“We have been practicing, lifting weights, conditioning, and doing yoga to prepare ourselves physically for the season,” Dunlap said. “But we also practice visualization and deep breathing, and listen to various speakers to help us with the mental side of baseball. We are a physically talented team, but our mental preparation and toughness is what is going to really separate us from our opponents.”
There are several new players that have been making an impact on the team thus far. Both freshmen and transfer students have helped to build the team’s foundation.
“We have several new players that will have major roles on our team this season,” Dunlap said. “Jacob and David Hill are junior college transfers that will be a big part of our pitching staff this year. Also, freshman pitcher Michael Teaney and freshman catcher Riley Adams are two talented younger players to look out for.”
Kirkpatrick was excited about the caliber of players that the recruiting staff was able to bring in this year.
“Our recruiting class this year was ranked 4th in the nation, and we will have to rely heavily on freshman, and transfers from game one,” Kirkpatrick said. “The returners on this team have laid a foundation so that it is much easy for the new guys to come in and step up.”
Coach Hill has worked hard to find both a balance of players and a hard work ethic when preparing his team both mentally and physically for this season. He is incredibly successful in motivational speaking in order to bring his players together before games. He has successfully created not only a strong bond within the team but has also formed a brotherhood.
Spencer Dunlap has high hopes for his team in this upcoming season.
“We want to continue the winning tradition that Coach Hill has established here at USD,” Dunlap said. “We have a great group of guys this year and our goal is to make it to Omaha for the college world series.”
The Toreros finished with one win and three losses in their opening series against Morehead State .
They won their final game 6-5 Sunday afternoon with a walk off bunt from junior Connor Jauch. We are looking forward to watching the Toreros in their next home series on Feb. 20 against Dallas Baptist at Fowler Park.