Pioneers Set Expectations High For Upcoming Season

NORMAL Ill.-  University High School Varsity baseball is off to a swinging start of the season, with a record two wins and three loses. 

The two victories the team have this season have been shutouts and have at least scored ten or more runs. The first victory of the season was ten to zero against Sacred Heart-Griffin and the second victory was against Springfield Southeast High School with a score of sixteen to zero. Recently, the head coach of the varsity baseball team talked about what they do when the team has a big lead.

“Well first of all if we get up really early, then I’m trying to be as mindful as I can of making the score too lopsided you know I see different scores out there that get that way and we would just not like to do that. So we’re trying you know to teach our guys to make sure, first of all they value every pitch and at bat,“ Said Paxson

At this point of the season, the Pioneers were scheduled to play eleven games but six of those eleven games have been rescheduled or canceled. Coach Paxson talked about what the team does in the long gaps between games.

“We’re looking to be creative as we can as a program to hopefully stymie the fact that we can’t be outside on the field. You know, so we’ve been doing a lot of live pen and things like that to keep hitter going. You know making sure our pitchers are facing batters and trying to get as good as we can be fielding a ground ball off a gym floor,” Said Paxson

Having goals for the season is important for the players and coaches so they have an idea of what to strive towards during the season. Coach Paxson spoke about his goals for the team for the season.

“Ultimately we just want to be really competitive every game, I want our guys to get a little bit better every game. I usually don’t try to put a win total or an end in mind. I mean that not really a measurable thing that we have in control over to be honest, you know we’re looking to try to be playing our best in May,” said Paxson 

The team’s next game is against Macarthur High School. It will be a double header with the first game starts at 4:30 PM and the second is scheduled to start at 6 PM. The team’s regular season is expected to end May 19th with the team facing Morton High School. After the regular season, comes the IHSA Regionals with it expected to start May 25th.