The Ashland University Baseball team is officially preparing for its 2022-2023 season. 

After a commendable 2021-2022 campaign, the Eagles look to build upon their success from last year.

“We felt that it was a disappointing finish last year and we were hoping to go further into the NCAA Tournament, but there’s a lot of teams out there that would love to have that kind of season,” said Eagle Head Coach John Schaly. “Our goals are a little higher such as Conference Championships, Regional Championships, World Series and we fell short of those goals, that’s where the disappointment came from, but still plenty of good things.”

The Eagles finished last season with a 35-21 record overall and a 22-10 record in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC). That record was good enough for second in the conference. 

While they showcased immense success, one thing that Coach Schaly wanted to improve on from last year was the team’s defensive effort.

“We know we need to improve our defense, we tell our pitchers to throw strikes and eliminate baserunners,” said Schaly. “So our pitching and defense need to go hand in hand ”. 

The Eagles struggled mightily out in the field, leading the GMAC in total errors. Where the eagles struggled defensively however, they more than made up for it by producing at the plate, Finishing second in the GMAC last year in batting average, runs batted In, and leading the conference in total hits. 

When asked about how the Eagles could sustain that hitting prowess, Schaly said that “One strength that we as a team have is speed. This is one of the fastest teams I’ve ever coached, and we need to take advantage of that and make things happen on the base path ”.

Many players are excited for the season to be ramping up once again with individual goals in place.

“I want to be a more consistent hitter and add more power to my swing to hopefully drive in more runs,” said utility man Seth Schroder.

Schroder ended the season last year with a .314 Batting Average, along with 25 Runs Batted In off of a career-high 61 hits.