A young Southwest baseball team battled through a difficult season this spring, but the Trojans ended the campaign on a high note by bagging half of their win total in consecutive games.

Derek Mann, Southwest baseball coach, said 6-19 was not the record his team had hoped for, but with injuries and youth having their effects, he was proud of how the Trojans performed.

“Overall, it was a tough season, but we had a lot of young guys that got a lot of experience,” he said. “We battled through injuries and some tough stretches, but we never gave up. Even with all the struggles, the boys made this season very fun and gave it their all.”

The Trojans dropped six games before getting their first win, an 18-4 victory over Liberal in the Carthage Bill O’Dell Varsity Fest. Southwest only picked up two more wins in the next 14 tries, but capped the regular season with a trio: 4-1 over Exeter, 15-2 over Greenfield and 10-0 over Verona. The season ended with an 8-2 loss to Sarcoxie in Class 2, District 11 Tournament opener.

Youth, Mann said, was the squad’s biggest obstacle.

“We had a lot of underclassmen having to play this year, so we saw a lot of improvement from everyone,” he said. “The biggest was learning the game and how to never give up. We had a lot of struggles this year…but they battled until the end.” Mann said the biggest problem plaguing the Trojans was at the plate, and their ability to get runners on base.

“Our games could have been a lot different if we could have gotten some hits in those situations,” he said.

The squad has just two seniors on the roster — Tyler Meek and Christian Shaffer — and Mann said both made major contributions to the program.

“Tyler was our team leader,” Mann said. “He held our team together through the tough times and he pushed the guys every day to get better. He was our best pitcher and hitter throughout the year.

“Christian was our main baserunner. He courtesy ran and pinch ran any chance we could. He led our team in steals and runs scored. Both these guys played a big part in their time here and will be missed.”

Mann said there’s one game those seniors, and the rest of the Trojans, surely won’t forget this season, even though it didn’t go their way.

“I would have to say our most exciting game was getting the chance to play at the Arkansas Naturals stadium in Springdale, Ark., against Purdy,” Mann said. “Our boys were so excited to play in that game at a field like that. It was a lot of fun seeing how excited they were to be able to play in that game. It was definitely an experience they will remember.”

Mann hopes experiences like that will push his players to keep improving and fill the shoes of his few upperclassmen.

“We had a lot of underclassmen this past season who had to be in big roles; some of them will be becoming juniors and others will now be sophomores,” he said. “All these guys will be expected to keep improving and stepping into even bigger roles. Some of our other sophomores will be expected to step into some starting roles and be big contributors for us.”

Mann said not quite meeting goals in the beginning of the season forced the Trojans to exercise some perspective, changing what they thought was most important.

“Our goals changed throughout the year,” Mann said. “Our goals were just to never give up and leave it all out on the field. These goals were met daily during practice and throughout the season. I was very proud of the boys for this.

“Next season, to keep improving and learning the game of baseball will be our daily goal, but the end goal is always the same, to win a district title and make a push in the state tournament.”