As the weather warms up, so has the Stevenson baseball team. Since the Arcadia game on March 24, the Mustangs compiled a 6-7 record start before rattling off five straight wins to begin April.
Since that winning streak, the Mustangs have gone 2-3 after splitting their series with Lynchburg on April 9, splitting on April 8 against Hood and a 15-2 loss to Hood on April 7. Now sitting at 13-16, the Mustangs still have eyes on staying hot and running the tables in the MAC.
Behind starter and sophomore Dan Williams, coming off a no-hitter on April 2, and junior catcher Jake Dimon, who has a .320 average with 11 runs batted in, Mustang fans are believing this team can make a run.
One other thing that makes this team tick is their offense, as head coach Jason Tawney said.
“Our offense has been the strength of our program for years, and this year is no different. We are currently averaging 7 runs a game. That should be enough to win the majority of games that we play,” he explained. As a team, the Mustangs are batting .280, driving in over 197 runs with nine home runs as of April 9.
Tawney also believes that the weakness of the team, the pitching staff, which has allowed 6.88 runs a game, is improving.
“I feel we are now healthy and have been throwing the ball much better. We will always have concerns, but I think we are headed in the right direction,” he said. Dimon agreed: “Even though we were off to a slow start, we continued to grind and here we are three games under .500. So, yes I believe our team is hitting our stride. Every aspect of our team is clicking, including our pitching, hitting, and defense.”
The Mustangs still have 11 games to go before the conference championships. Dimon believes if everything goes right, this team can make it past the conference championships.
“The only thing that must happen is to be flawless at every aspect of our game. Pitch well, play defense, execute on offense. If all of that is achieved, I see us advancing past our conference and heading to a regional game,” he said. The Mustangs face Lebanon Valley starting April 13, for a three-game series.