Warriors earn road splits with UW-Superior, Hastings
Waldorf's three losses all come by just a run
By Matt Foy
Of The Summit
FOREST CITY - The season is still young, but Chad Gassman has already identified a major need for his team. His Warriors need to find ways to win close games.
“That's what great teams do,” the Waldorf baseball coach said. “We need to find a way to win those one-run games, not lose them.”
With their own field still buried under snow, the Warriors' quest for competition took them to Minnesota on Wednesday, when they played UW-Superior under the bright lights of the Metrodome, and Nebraska over the weekend, where they played three games with Hastings College.
Waldorf went 2-3 on the week with all three losses coming by one run.
The Warriors' trip to the Metrodome was an early season highlight for the experience, not just the split the team earned.
“I'd say 50 or 60 percent of the guys are Minnesota kids, and a lot of the Iowa guys grew up as Twins fans,” Gassman said. “To play on the same field that Torii Hunter plays on, they were loving it.”
The Warriors split with UW-Superior, losing the first game 8-7 and coming back to win the very late nightcap 9-6.
On Saturday (Waldorf's series with Doane College on Friday was canceled), the Warriors went to Hastings, Neb., for the first two of three games with Hastings College.
The Warriors won the first game 4-2 but lost a 2-1 heartbreaker in the 11th inning of the nightcap.
Waldorf scored in the top of the 10th and was one out from closing the sweep, but Hastings used a double and a single/error to tie the score up. The Broncos put the game away with a run in the 11th.
The loss spoiled a brilliant outing for freshman pitcher Brent Haynes, who tossed eight scoreless innings to start the game.
On Saturday, the Broncos won the rubber game 6-5.
With five of Waldorf's six losses coming by one or two runs, Gassman knows his team could be 8-1 right now. But he says his opinion of his team wouldn't change even if it was.
“If we were 8-1, we'd still have to do the things we need to do to get better,” he said. “I still have a special feeling about these guys.”
Waldorf (3-6) hopes to play its four-game series with Briar Cliff University over the weekend, but that is dubious with the weather. The Warriors are scheduled to open the Midwest Classic Conference at home on Mar. 24-25 against St. Ambrose, but that too is dubious.
The Warriors have added another trip to the Metrodome over Spring Break. They will play Central College on Mar. 21.
Story created Mar 13, 2007 - 15:06:33 CDT.
|
