Teamwork is key to successful baseball season, coach says

By Matt Smith
Sports Editor

With their cleats tied tight, gloves oiled down and new bats in their bags, the North Lake College Blazer Baseball team is eager for the new season, looking for consistent play and relentless execution in order for a season filled with success.

After playing some highly ranked Division I teams in Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 7-9, the Blazer’s high expectations were satisfied with a fulfilling performance.

“We played real well, so I feel pretty good, it’s a matter of us executing and playing well. I think if we are more aggressive and guys have more confidence in their abilities, then we have a chance to go a long way,” said Coach Steve Cummings regarding the weekend in Phoenix.

The baseball team will have its wits tested this year in NJCAA Division III, which is non-scholarship, playing basically a Division I schedule (full room and board, and paid books, fees and tuition). Once the team plays its first conference game on March 7 in the DCCCD Pre-Season Tournament in Dallas, it should be ready for a winning streak through the Division III conference schools.

With four returning starters, and six or seven players who have a chance to move on to a four-year school, Cummings has high hopes of the team winning conference. “As long as they get after it and play within themselves, I don’t see why they couldn’t,” said Cummings.

Proficient pitching, reliable defense and speed on the base paths give the Blazers a good chance to win many games throughout the season.

“We’ve got some quality starters and our relievers did really well over the weekend,” said Cummings. “Defensively we’re pretty stout and we’re a kind of different ball club. We’re not a power club, but we have good team speed, we can hit and run, steal bases, and score some runs, so we have a lot of things going for us. Everything you need to do to win is there, it’s just a matter of us executing everyday,” he said.

When thinking about how much pressure is put on a team to be a powerful hitting club, it should not be overlooked that last year’s World Series Champions, the Anaheim Angels, had one of the lowest total number of home runs in the league. How could a team like that win a championship?

They won games with place hitting, stealing bases and scoring runs the old fashioned way, taking it back to the basics of playing ball. The Blazers will look to do just that for success against the stronger opposition.

Cummings believes that all his players are pretty strong and can help out in their own way. “We’re going to have guys that are our front line players who are going to play the majority of the time, but the guys who are going to be role players are good, too.

“I feel confident that we can place anybody anywhere and we’ll still get a good quality job done.”

He emphasized again that baseball is a team sport. “You have a lot of individuals, but you have to play as a team to win, and I like concentrating on that. We’re only as strong as our weakest link.”

With Richland and Eastfield being North Lake’s biggest rivals in conference, Cummings and his team want to do their best to not only beat them, but hopefully embarrass them, much like the Bad News Bears. The Blazers play Eastfield March 14 and 15, as well as April 4 and 5. They play Richland March 21 and 22, and again April 11 and 12. Even though most of the games are played in the middle of the day around noon or 2 p.m., student participation would be appreciated greatly, he said.

It is hard to say that a team is really as good as they can be at the beginning of a season, but with hard practice and dedication to the skills necessary to win, the North Lake baseball team should have a fair chance to make it pretty far through the season with the ultimate goal of a NJCAA World Series berth.

The opportunity for the team to make it to the World Series should be enough to fuel them and provide for an energetic season, resulting in a conference championship.