The 2020 Baseball season is right around the corner. Beavers Head Coach James Grandey is back and ready for another baseball season. After battling through injuries last season, this year’s team brings experience with a core group of juniors all healthy is a key for the team this season.
Bluffton University Head Baseball Coach James Grandey photo by Trent Mast
The team is looking to improve every day. Grandey said they are looking at the season in thirds. With the first 10 games being the Florida swing, then the non-conference schedule as the second third and the conference schedule being the final third. Making the conference tournament is something the team wants to do through the season.
“The first thing you’ve got to do, as coaches and players,is you have to speak that existence into our everyday life,” said Grandey. “You can’t just make it a wish. You gotta talk about behaving and practicing like champions do. What that takes and what that means and not shying away from that.”
Embracing your role is another thing Grandey talked about for having a successful season. Being ready for when your name is called and being there to cheer on your team when it is not you in the game is what Grandey is pushing to his players. Grandey is seeing a togetherness in his team as well as a mature mindset. He believes if his team can do these two things throughout the season then the baseball team will have a successful season.
Baseball, unlike many sports, is a game where each pitch is an opportunity to be a game-changer. Being ready and keeping composure throughout the game is another focus for the Beavers this season.
“In baseball and softball, more so than any sport, each pitch is its own singular event,” said Grandey. “If you make a mistake then you have another pitch 15 seconds later. We are just trying to play the game pitch by pitch, out by out, inning by inning and then game by game. It all comes back to playing it one pitch at a time and being able to control our emotions through each pitch.”
The core group of junior returners have all started the past two years as freshman and sophomores. There are also some seniors in the core group as well. But, there will be some new faces to look out for throughout the course of this season. Grandey said to keep an eye out on some of the first-years this season. First-year position players Jack Towell and Nick Diana, catcher Adam Yoh, right-handed pitcher Jaden Jaques and left-handed pitcher Josh Slade.
The team will start its season March 1 against Alvernia University in Fort Myers, Florida, where they will play 10 games in seven days. The Beavers’ season opener originally was scheduled to be Feb. 26 at Ohio Wesleyan but was postponed due to weather.
The Beavers’ home opener will be a doubleheader against Albion College March 14.
