By GABRIELLE MARTIN, Staff Reporter.
Delta’s baseball team has gotten better and better every year since it got started in 2012. The team had a 24-16 season its first season, 30-20 in the second season, and went 33-13 last year, according to their records. This season, the team is currently 7-5 and could have their 100th win if they play it right.
“The biggest improvement we have to make is we have to get smarter,” says head coach, Danny Smith.
With 18 of his 25 players being freshman, he says the biggest challenge he faces is teaching the players the difference between high school and college baseball.
“We need to learn how to slow the game down,” Smith adds.
Winning their 100th game isn’t the only goal Smith has for his team this year. While he says it is of course his goal for the team to win a national championship, he has other objectives as well.
“We want to be an academic all-american team,” says Smith. This would entail the team averaging a GPA of at least a 3.0. He also says he hopes to send as many players as possible off to play at 4-year universities.
With so many of his players being freshman, one may think that he would hope many of them would come back next year to play for Delta again.
“I hope that half of them don’t come back and go to 4-year universities instead,” says Smith. He goes on to say that because of the team’s successful season last year, many universities were interested in his players.
The team’s success the past three seasons certainly seems to have an effect on the how the team goes onto the field this season.
“We do play with an air of confidence,” says Smith.
