By Kylie Bowman

Though the bike racks may still be partially buried in snow, spring is officially here, and the best thing that comes with it—besides the warmer weather of course—is the beginning of baseball season! The men’s baseball team began practice when the snow was still falling but are now excited for their season to get started.

Going into this season, I asked some of the players what was so special to them about baseball, especially here at University of Wisconsin–Stout.

Senior Charles Pelzer from Little Canada, Minn. enjoys baseball because of its unpredictability. Anything can happen in baseball, and maybe that’s why it is America’s pastime.

Pelzer commented, “It’s a game where a man throwing 80 mph can be just as effective as a man who throws 95 mph and where a well-hit ball can turn into an out and a poorly hit ball can find a way through the infield for a hit.”

Both Pelzer and teammate Charles Meyer, a junior from Janesville, Wis., agreed that the team atmosphere here at UW–Stout is close.

“The camaraderie of our guys makes me look forward to playing each and every day,” commented Meyer.

Over spring break, the team traveled to Florida. Not only was this a perfect opportunity to spend spring break in an actual spring climate, but the team was able to practice a lot and overall grow closer as a team.

The Blue Devils got a lot of practice playing talented teams that gave them close scores.

Meyer said, “This is good for the team because those are the type of teams and close positions that we’ll be playing against all season in conference ball.”

Among the many teams they played was the Twins rookie team. The game went into a 10th inning and ended with a tie because they had hit the innings limit.

The experience of playing multiple talented teams helped the team mentally too.

“I think it built a lot of confidence in all of us that we are a talented team: when we do things right, we can win ball games,” explained Meyer.

In fact, the team is hopeful for an impressive season. “This team is capable of the best season this school has seen in a long time. We are all striving to be one of the top teams in the conference and to take this season into the playoffs” noted Pelzer.

Last year’s team had a fairly successful season, but it seems that returning players expect to be topping that this season. The baseball team encourages you to turn out for their games, especially here at home, providing Mother Nature allows them to use the field. Spend a few hours watching baseball, what Pelzer described as “the game where anyone can become a hero at any moment.”

Find the schedule of home and away games at athletics.uwstout.edu/baseball, and enjoy an afternoon at the ballpark showing your Blue Devil pride!

 

 

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