The Goshen College baseball team traveled to Bellevue, Kentucky last Friday to take on Kentucky Christian University and Brescia University. The team went into the weekend with a record of 2-2, which gave Coach Brad Stoltzfus and the players some confidence. 

Over the course of the weekend, the team was scheduled to play four games against two teams: one against each team on Friday and Saturday. Due to field conditions, only Friday’s games were played. 

In their game against KCU, both teams started off well, but the Leafs went on to lose 5-3. In their game against Brescia, Goshen again started the game strong, answering Bresica’s three runs with two of their own. However, that was where the scoring ended for Goshen: the game ended with the Leafs losing 11-2.

Jenner Rodammer, a senior and the team’s center fielder, saw a lot of positives despite the less than ideal results. “So far there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this season,” he said. “Overall, I’d say we’ve played pretty well. A lot of guys are hitting really well, if we can keep that up I think we’ll have a good season.” 

This trip was the second time that the baseball team has made a weekend trip to Kentucky this season. “The biggest reason we go to Kentucky to play baseball in February is that it’s 30 degrees warmer,” Stoltzfus said. “Making these weekend trips allow us to … have some flexibility when games get canceled, like they did this weekend, and it saves money as well.”

While these preseason games are important for the team’s overall record, to Stoltzfus, they aren’t the most important games. “You’ll see in conference, our results will improve,” Stoltzfus said. 

Rodammer backed up Stoltzfus, saying, “I think the guys are confident about our chances to do well in conference and make the postseason. We will just have to remain confident even after facing inevitable challenges against good teams.”

Although the results on Friday weren’t in Goshen’s favor, both the players and Stoltzfus spoke highly of the teams levelheadedness. 

Joseph Cerda, a junior and the team’s third baseman, said, “I feel like we did a good job of not stooping to [the other teams’] level. It’s not always the win that matters, but more of a morale victory.” 

Stoltzfus added, “We were the classiest team that played, so even though we lost twice, we view it as a win for our program because we got a lot better.”

The program has been flourishing under Stoltzfus’ new system; moving forward, they hope  to be able to take this newfound confidence and turn it into conference wins, and eventually, make it to the post-season tournament.

The Leafs swept a doubleheader at Trinity Christian College on Wednesday, winning 15-8 and 4-3. This brought their season record to 4-4.