As they enter the bubble once again this long, cold off-season, the North Dakota State baseball team walks with confidence and excitement. A buzz among the team follows the players, a buzz that accompanies success.
Describing its plans to carry out this success for as long as possible, junior Luke Lind, who was awarded The Summit League Pitcher of the Week following the team’s opening weekend, said the team needs to take it one game at a time.
“We have to take things day by day, honestly,” Lind said. “Taking it one game at a time and going from there. Keep playing well and having fun, that’s the biggest part. I mean, we’re having a blast out here. Everything’s fun — winning is fun, and it’s been great.”
Going along with his team’s excitement while also trying to keep things realistic was head coach Tod Brown.
“We’re bracing for (a slump),” Brown said. “We as a team have talked about that; we’re not gonna go six and one every seven games. There are gonna be some ups and downs throughout the season, but it’s nice to get off to a good start when you play your first 25 or 30 every year on the road. You have to handle the road, and our guys have done a nice job so far.”
This success hasn’t come easy to the team, and won’t stick around without consistent hard work. After dedicating most of the offseason to practice inside the Dacotah Bubble, the team built anticipation and excitement.
As the success develops, so do the connections between the players. Lind described the overall relationship of the team as a “brotherhood.”
“Each member on the team has stepped up to their role,” he said.
Jayse McLean, who has been off to a strong start this season with a current batting average of .409, agreed, mentioning how everyone has contributed by carrying out their own role.
“It’s just been a team thing,” he said. “We’ve been playing well together, and we’ve been playing well with good pitching and good hitting and when it comes together, you win games.”
Even Brown mentioned the outstanding overall effort from the entire squad.
“It’s been a total team effort,” Brown said. “If you look at our stats and box scores it’s a different guy every game. It’s a different guy on the mound every game. We’re not relying on one or two guys; we’re relying on twelve or thirteen hitters and eleven or twelve pitchers and that’s nice to see.”
He even spoke on how other teams will struggle to scout them with all of the different roles players have been able to hold.
“We hope to keep the same approach we had. We can’t let success deviate us from our best,” McLean said. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing to have success and just take each game at a time.”