The Pride continue to roll as they split the series with Vincennes 1-1 and swept Edison by scores of 14-0, 12-2, 16-6, and 7-1. They have been very consistent in the way they are winning – quality at bats, strong pitching and a dynamic offense. The midweek pitching has been a little rough but it hasn’t stopped them from their best start under coach Dintaman with a 32-3 record. They still have to win the conference, but playoffs seem inevitable with the hopes of a strong run to Enid, Oklahoma for the World Series.
“We feel good about it. They are a very confident group for sure. We’ve talked about before, our strength is our weekend rotation. The biggest concern at this point is trying to keep everyone healthy. Trying to solve that puzzle has been a pretty difficult task. We finished the Edison series with every infielder having an injury,” said Dintman.
Bryan University commit and current third baseman Alec Turner has been having a great year and was also a major key in last year’s run, before falling to Kellogg in regionals. Turner feels there are a couple differences between this year and last year.
“This year’s team definitely has a tight bond, we all get along really well. This years group of kids is just so talented. We really don’t have a weak spot in the lineup. That’s probably our biggest strength and our pitching staff is awesome,” said Turner.
Under Dintaman, the Pride have won conference six out of the past seven years, but have never made it out of regionals. Turner feels that they just need to keep it simple and play Tartan Pride baseball.
“It seems like in years past we try to be a different team and do too much. We just need to stick to our game and do what we’ve been doing all season. We get away from that sometimes, especially last year,” said Turner.
Turner feels that they have also matured as time as moved on and are ready to make a deep run.
The injuries have piled up, some more concerning than others. The most concerning seems to be second baseman Chad Roberts, who has been an incredible addition to an already strong lineup. Roberts may have a tear in his labrum, which is a shoulder joint tear. They will find out soon what it is exactly. First baseman Connor Clearly also suffered a minor hip injury, meanwhile, Billy Kidd was battling through some shoulder pain and got hit badly with a ball directly on a leg muscle. Third baseman Alec Turner did not come away unscathed, as he slid and caught a ball near the dugout jammed his knee, along with hip and back injuries.
Dintaman is giving his men some breaks during the week and many aren’t even practicing at this point. Luckily, the Pride have given themselves a good cushion to drop a couple games while they rest their starters. Dintaman has also given much praise to their trainer, Spencer Deffner.
“That’s the MVP, our trainer Spencer. Spencer has been treating guys and has helped 10 players today with injuries and trying to be preventive on some different ones. Without him, we’d be in some deep trouble. He’s been keeping these guys healthy enough to compete,” said Dintaman.
Deffner will try to keep the team healthy as they play Wright State Club, Miami University-Hamilton and conference rival Owens in the weekend series.
Matthew Summers
Sports Editor