Pilgrims look at key stretch, starting with Mishawaka
PLYMOUTH — A solid start for a young team has Plymouth's Pilgrims optimistic but a big week looms ahead.
A key stretch for the Pilgrims here in the early going starts on Monday with the first trip of Mishawaka to Bill Nixon Field as a member of the NLC. That's the first of four games in six days for head coach Ryan Wolfe's squad that has made great strides since opening night at St. Joe.
"We have had a really good first three weeks of practice," he said of the quick growth of his team. "I think our guys were eager to play. They were very competitive. We learned a lot about our guys and that's what we wanted to get them to do, learn about themselves, what they can and can't do. We put them in some positions to grow early on. and that's what we've used these first five games for as well.
"We didn't know a whole lot about what we had. We knew we had a lot of baseball talent and some athleticism but we weren't sure how all the pieces were going to fit together," he said. "Especially after taking a year off. We had to take some time to get them re-acclimated to what we expect and get to know them again."
A tough start on the road showed some real signs of the long layoff between high school seasons.
"I remember going home from that game (St. Joe) and thinking 'oh, my' we gave up 19 free bases that you can't do if you want to win," said Wolfe. "But for everything that we did in that game that lost it for us, we did as many things that are going to win games for us."
"For a lot of them it was their first high school level anything let alone varsity level," said Wolfe. "In the last four games, we've started to build some things and started to build on the positives we had in that first game."
Pilgrim pitchers struggled a bit early on getting the ball over the plate, but since have been ahead in the count most of the time and the results have been obvious.
"When you get ahead it changes the whole at bat for the hitter," said Wolfe. "Watching guys before the game I can tell their focus level. We try to tell the starter a few days before they start especially for the conference season we try to have a plan and tell them whatever they have to do get locked in."
Having a lot of different options also helps in a long season.
"Tanner probably throws the hardest but it's a lot straighter," said Wolfe. "Skyler (Aker) comes a little more three quarter so he's got a lot of movement on his two-seam fastball and a really tight curveball to go with it. Matt (Dobuck) from the left side just throwing that batting practice speed fastball to get flyouts. Matt (Manzuk) is somebody we will probably go to start some conference games and he's got a great changeup. We have guys with different repertoires and options to keep us in ball games."
An early decision to let his young catchers concen
trate on the most critical defensive position on the field has also played dividends.
"We threw Boston (Berkeypile) and Koan (Deon) right into the fire and after that game coach (Matt) Haug came up with the idea of why don't we DH for them for just a little while and just let them focus on catching," said Wolfe. "Everyone wants to hit so I commend them for taking ownership of doing that and getting better. The catcher's number one job is to be a catcher and by letting them do that early on their confidence has grown."
A lot of options at the plate have also become evident. "When I go to put a lineup together these guys give me about 20 different options," said Wolfe. "We try to put guys in positions to be successful put them in spots in the order where there are going to get different types of pitches."
"Matt (Dobuck) has 14 RBIS in five games and we debated where to hit him," he said. "Sometimes you pat yourself on the back that you made a good decision that worked out. When he's (Dobuck) been up there have been guys all over the bases and he gets more at-bats in a game hitting in that spot."
"All nine guys can pretty much all hit a double and seven of the nine can steal a base," said Wolfe. "That puts a lot of pressure on teams. We've been fortunate that we are seeing the ball well."
Next week's games will go a long way to setting the stage for the rest of the season.
"These games are going to be close," said Wolfe. "We are going to have to execute. You're going to have to lay a bunt down late in the game to try to win. I want to see how the things we work on in practice play out and how we handle those situations if it's 4-4 headed to the fifth. We need to continue to get better."
"Some of these guys have started to believe in themselves and believe in each other and the more success they have the more confidence they are going to have that they can beat anybody they play."