In the words of country music star Kenny Chesney in his hit song Summertime “Summertime is finally here, that old ballpark, man, is back in gear,” and those words ring true in the hearts of baseball fans across Iowa, as the high school season kicked off last week. A difficult week of weather saw the Hawk’s opening game cancelled and the midweek matchup moved back a day, but with better weather sticking around, the Hawks are full steam ahead, tackling the long season that lies in front of the team.
A poor opening to the season, the Hawks have struggled to find consistency on the bump and at bat as they faced some top 5 competition. Despite struggles, the team is optimistic about the season,
“It’s going to get easier,” said senior center fielder Evan Irlmeier.
“Along with taking every pitch, and every game by itself, I think just having a positive mindset is super important for our team,” said senior shortstop Kinnick Vos, who shared about the team’s approach to the season.
“You have such a long season, you can’t get bogged down by one or two things not going your way,” said Vos.
Baseball is a unique sport, being one of two in Iowa High School athletics to have a summer season. In addition, the length of the season keeps athletes committed all summer long. With a long season, it can be difficult at times for athletes to stay grounded through tough results. A focus of the Hawks is a positive mindset that hopes to keep the team focused on performance, not necessarily results.
“We just want to stay consistent, not getting too high or too low,” said junior pitcher and utility player Will Davies.
In a long season, all aspects of an athlete must be in lockstep; the athlete must focus on recovery and conditioning, mindset, technique, and so much more, but Davies shared the importance of something else, something a little unusual.
“Eating, eating a lot of food, yeah, you lose a lot of weight when you’re playing every day,” said Davies.
Despite being named to a preseason Iowa Mr. IABaseball watch list candidate by IASportz, Davies doesn’t feel any extra pressure to perform this season, Davies wants to play the game he knows and loves, not the game of likes and comments that social media can create
“I try to stay out of all the stuff online. So I just try to go out there and play my hardest every game,” Davies said.
For seniors like Vos and Irlmeier, this season just means more as they represent the Hawks one last time while it’s bittersweet for underclassmen who lose teammates and friends.
“It’s really special this final season, I grew up idolizing the Brody Brechts, the Jase Bauers, you know it’s my dream to play for the Hawks,” Vos said.
This love for the school and love of the sport creates a dangerous combination for opponents, where a team has dangerous players around the field who can convert tight plays, and at the same time, the team is having fun and loves the game they are playing.
This love the team has this season will carry them through the season, the Hawks want to be there more than their opponent.
“We want to end above .500 in the conference … we want to keep the other team uncomfortable,” said Vos.
