Coming off a successful weekend with a 2-3 record against George Fox University March 10 and 11, the baseball team has a lot of momentum carrying them forward into the rest of the season.
Head Coach Greg Bradley was pleased with the results the Boxers achieved after their double header on Saturday.
“We have a goal every weekend to win two out of three games in a series,” said Bradley. “I felt really good with how they played.”
The Boxers accomplished that goal by winning their first game 7-1 and their third game on Sunday 3-0. The Boxers had a close game against George Fox, but ended up losing 5-6 on Saturday.
They have had a lot of preparation leading up to this season and Bradley said Hawaii was a good way to kick the season off.
“Getting away and having teammates get to know each other early on in the season was definitely a positive,” said Bradley. “We were playing Division II teams so the level of play was higher and that helped prepare us for playing in conference.”
The Boxers went to Hawaii in the middle of February for five days and played against University of Hawaii Hilo and Hawaii Pacific University. They had a 1-7 record against the DII teams beating Hawaii-Hilo 8-6 on February 16.
With their 3-2 record in the Northwest Conference so far, Bradley said the team has set high goals and standards this season.
Their main goal is to compete for the championship.
Bradley said that with every weekend the team has taken a step in the right direction but they won’t be able to just, “sneak into the series.”
“Doing well early on has put a bulls-eye on our back,” said Bradley.
He attributes the success the team has had to pitching, good defense and timely hitting.
Both Rob Dittrick and Chad Fahey played their games last weekend without relief.
Dittrick played on Saturday and threw his second complete game of the season and allowed only one run on seven hits and seven strikeouts.
On Sunday Fahey threw his first complete game of the season and allowed six hits with a walk and six strikeouts to improve to 2-1 on the season.
“At our level when you have pitchers that are very competitive and complete what they started, not to mention are in good shape and have a good arm and stamina it sets the tone for the series,” said Bradley.
With his performance in the game against George Fox, Fahey earned the Northwest Conference’s Weekly Pitcher’s Award on March 13. This award notices Fahey as the league’s Baseball Pitcher Student-Athlete of the Week.
The conference’s information directors choose the award.
Dittrick was chosen as the NWC’s Baseball Pitcher Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of March 6.
Bradley said that the Boxers have become a team to contend with and will take every series seriously.
“We have made a statement in the conference,” said Bradley.
“We have the capability of winning.”
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