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The Pitt State baseball team had games against Newman on Thursday, Feb. 14 and Winona State on Sunday, Feb. 17. In the game against Newman, the team lost (3-7). They battled back on Sunday in a doubleheader against Winona State with a win in the first game (6-4) but lost the second and final game of the weekend (2-11).
Head coach Bob Fornelli believes the team learned from these games.
“We did not have a very good week,” Fornelli said. “For some reason, we were a little off (and) definitely did not play our best baseball but I think we learned from it (and) hopefully we will grow from it and be better this week.”
Despite battling back, the team was not able to secure a win during the second game on Sunday against Winona State.
“…I can’t really tell you that we did anything great,” Fornelli said. “I think Connor Lungwitz threw the ball well on Thursday, gave us a chance to win (but) we just could not get over the hump to win. On Sunday, Kinsey threw really well. We had a couple guys come up with some big hits in the fifth and sixth innings. They gave us an opportunity to win the first game and then in the second game (we) just did not play very good baseball.”
The team will be working on improving during practice the week before the next games, which are the first games of the MIAA conference for baseball.
“(We are going to be working on) just trying to do the little things better,” Fornelli said. “We did not do the little things very good this week. We got to get better. When we do fail, (we need to) get right back up on it and get after it and I think we have had a good week of practice so far and hopefully, that will show this weekend when we start conference.”
According to Fornelli, the team needs to work on their offense before starting the conference this weekend.
“We have not been very good offensively,” Fornelli said. “So, we hit a lot this week and hitting is contagious, so we just need a couple guys to get hot and everybody will follow.”
Fornelli hopes for the team to improve during practice before facing their next opponent.
“It is conference time,” Fornelli said. “We need to play well together, battle through any adversity that we might have this weekend and if we do that I think we will come out and play well.”
The next games are against the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats at the Al Ortolani Field in Pittsburg. The first game is set to start at 3 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22. Game two will begin on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. and game three is set to start at 12 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.