By Charlie Crowley, Sports Editor

Image Courtesy of Andris Visockis

Normally, baseball enters its crunch time when the leaves change. However, for the Aquinas College baseball team, the Saints kicked off their season when the big leagues end theirs.

After another long season of cancelled and relocated games, the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference made a change: teams would begin play in the fall, to avoid the mess of rained out games and sloppy fields. This brought an interesting challenge to teams, as most do not begin their formal training until the late fall. The Saints got of to a 2-6 start but spirits are relatively high.

“I think that without looking at our record, it was a successful fall,” said Mike Priest, a senior outfielder. “We had a lot of new and young guys come in and play right away, which is tough to do.

“These guys will only get better, and we look forward to big things in the spring.”

Despite a losing record, the Saints showed promise this early in the season. Taking away two losses to Northwestern Ohio, considered to be a WHAC favorite year in and out, the Saints kept their losing margins close, showing promise entering the offseason before their full schedule begins.

” We knew we had to get going way earlier than normal and be rolling on all cylinders,” Priest said. “There wasn’t much time for error or not knowing what was expected of you. Everyone took the challenge upon themselves to get better everyday in a short period of time. The early experience will only benefit us in the spring.”

As the Saints offer the winter, Priest spoke high praise of the potential firepower the team can have entering their full season.

“I would say that our hitting this year is what truly kept us in games. If we can put up a lot of runs we will be just fine.”

The Saints have a long hiatus until their annual spring break trip in March, but will continue to bring their potential to the plate come spring break. Make sure to keep an eye on the Saints come baseball season.