At 5-9, the Southwest baseball team’s record is misleading.
The Trojans, according to coach Derek Mann, had heavy-hitting opponents in the first half of the season, struggled with practice when the field was being completed and have battled their way through injuries.
Now, with only six games left to go — and starting this week on a four-game win streak — Southwest is pulling everything together to push for postseason success.
“The beginning of our season was very stacked, and we played some very good teams,” Mann said. “Some of our scores don’t look like it but we played well for most of those games and fell apart in an inning or two. This season, we have battled quite a few injuries to some key guys which has forced some other guys to move around a lot more than I want them to as well as thrusted some guys into big spots.”
Mann said having a consistent place to practice now is making a difference.
“We were in a gym or parking lots with the renovations going on for our field,” he said. “We are starting to get healthy and able to practice more consistently on the field and are starting to play better as of recently. Our main focus as districts near is to get healthy, get our confidence back and stay consistent through an entire game.”
Standing in Southwest’s way at districts are East Newton, Lamar, Diamond and Sarcoxie. The Trojans beat Sarcoxie 11-1 early in the season, but East Newton has gotten the better of Southwest twice, 11-4 on March 18 and 15-5 on April 3.
The Trojans played at Diamond on Tuesday, with the result not available at presstime, and play Sarcoxie again on May 2. They do not see Lamar in the regular season, but the Tigers defeated East Newton 6-0 on April 18.
“East Newton is a good team with some great players,” Mann said. “I believe we just need to get healthy and stay healthy first and foremost. Then, we need to not just put so much pressure on ourselves and play our game. We just have to have the confidence in ourselves and have the mind set that we are better than anyone we play.
“I think if we can get these things together, we will be a completely different team then what people saw earlier in the year.”
Leading that squad are some familiar faces from the district champion basketball team, including Zak Corwin, Coy Shrum and Brendyn Paulsen.
“Brendyn has been hurt most of the year and unable to do a lot of the things we normally ask of him,” Mann said. “It has been hard on him mentally, as he just wants to be able to do all he can to help the team out. I know he wants to repeat that success they had in basketball. He is starting to get healthier and getting back into his groove.
“My two seniors, Zak and Coy have been great this year. We all struggled early, but they have done their best to keep their heads up and keep the team staying positive. They know that this is it for them, and I think that pressure hit them early on. They are starting to hit their stride and gain their confidence.”
Confidence is what Mann is pushing for his boys as they wrap up the season, hoping it will make them more competitive on the dirt.
“Our confidence in ourselves and in our teammates is finally starting to grow more,” Mann said. “In the beginning of the year with injuries, field issues and then some ugly losses, we were down on ourselves. Now that we are able to practice more on a field and we are getting healthier, our confidence is coming back. We just need to keep believing in ourselves and one another. We keep doing this, then we can make a run.”
In a 17-2 five-inning win over Wheaton on April 17, Corwin and Tristan Morgan tallied 3 hits each, and Morgan earned 5 RBI. Morgan also pitched five innings and struck out 10.
The Trojans return home to face McAuley Catholic today (Wednesday) and will host Hurley on Thursday.
