The pandemic has made it difficult for athletes to fight roles on their teams, giving them fewer opportunities to prove themselves. On the other side of that, there are the coaches who have to develop different ways to evaluate their athletes. This is the problem coach Brian Lewis and his coaching staff faced when it came to the Viterbo baseball team. The fall season was canceled, which was a blow for the V-Hawks. This period was a key time to evaluate the athletes and work through the rotation.
The loss of the fall games has made the little things more important, such as heart, and going all out for every play. Coach Lewis brought in 13 freshmen and four junior college transfers this season and is returning 28 players. The lack of in-game competition has made it difficult to find roles that best suit players, this also didn’t give many of the athletes a chance to showcase their game time execution. The V-Hawks were given one intra-squad game that became more important than ever before.
The V-Hawk world series has been a tradition to end fall competition since 2015. It has always been a fun end-of-the-season game. This season, this was key since the coaching staff hasn’t been able to evaluate and decide the 26 players who would travel every week to play. This game had a lot more weight to it. Coach Lewis said this game played an important role in making the depth chart for this season, but there is much to decide.
When the Lumen talked to Coach Lewis about the game plan going into the season, he commented on playing fast-paced offense, stealing bases, and putting pressure on the defense. He was happy to say his defense is revamped with the two junior college transfers Daren Escabor– Winters at shortstop and Remy Stern at third base to complement their four-year starter, Kyle Gilbertson, at pitcher. Lewis sees the defense causing problems for teams this season.
Lewis sees this team as the most talented team he has coached since he took over the team in 2015. The team chemistry and the culture is stronger than it has ever been. Despite the difficulties at the beginning of the season due to COVID, Lewis states have confidence this team is a championship contender.
The first game is against Mount Mercy University who is ranked #14 in the nation. This will be the V-Hawk’s first time outside on the field since before the shutdown in November. This team has been resilient all year, and this upcoming game is just another test for them, and Lewis knows the players will step up and continue to progress through the season.
