Hey batter batter, baseball is back. Warm weather and baseball go hand in hand and the Hamline baseball team is ready to get back to the bases. The weekend of February 19 was the start to the Pipers 2022 season. The team traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for the weekend and played three games against Buena Vista University.  “While we were excited to open our season in Omaha last weekend we weren’t pleased with the results. On Saturday, we had 2 separate leads that got away from us and we didn’t play up to our expectations on Sunday. We made mistakes that a very good Buena Vista team took advantage of,” head baseball coach Jim Weyandt said. The team lost all three of their games during the season opener but there is hope and high expectations for the rest of the season to come. 

“It wasn’t the start we were looking for but I like the group of guys that we got and were going to figure it out for the rest of the year,” senior Avery Nelson said. With the season just starting,some even feel that the rocky start was a good way to start things out  “The guys are working very hard this week at practice to keep improving,” said Weyandt. Nelson also feels this start was a blessing in disguise. 

“Our focus is better this week, we know that we’re not where we need to be and we know what we need to work on. This weekend was kind of a punch in the face but we’re going to bounce back,” Nelson said. The past few years had a bumpy history for the team. They haven’t had a winning season—a season with more wins than losses—in a while.  “We’ve got a lot more experience coming back this year and we have a group of guys who have worked really hard and have put in the preparation to set ourselves up for a good season,” Nelson said. 

In 2019, they ended their conference season with a record of 8–12. In 2020, they played nine non-conference games before their season was canceled due to the pandemic and in 2021 their conference record was 6–15.  “We are feeling really good, like probably the best we’ve ever felt. After the weekend the morale took a little bit of a dip, but I still think it’s a lot better than where we were

two years ago,” senior Hayden Ring said. Right now the Pipers are working up to their return to Arizona. After three years the boys will be back in the desert for a long week of competition. The team feels good about the heat that they’ll face while away.  “We feel more prepared, like the losses were more in our control this time around, like before it was like we were going to lose and that’s just how it was going to be,” Ring said.

The team has high hopes for bases loaded, home runs and team wins. The season is long and there is an expectation to accomplish greatness.