The baseball team has a group of players who believe they can achieve their goal of winning a championship. 

The team’s season was canceled last year. When the group found out, they were on a trip to Montana State to play a four-game series versus the Yellow Jackets. 

“We saw all the other leagues around the country start to cancel so we started to get worried,” junior infielder Michael Peter said. “Then all of the sudden, our coach told us at lunch in the middle of Montana that we’re turning around the bus, our season has been canceled.”

The team’s first game of this season was Feb. 26, 350 days after their previous game. With new regulations due to COVID-19, the athletes were challenged to prepare for the 2021 season.

“It was definitely a lot different, it just meant that we had to work that much harder,” Peter said. “We did well with it.” 

The team started the season out with a 10-8 win against Saint Martin’s University. In that game, senior right-handed pitcher JJ Asinas earned a win, coming in the game in the eighth inning. 

With the GNAC allowing teams to have a full season, the baseball team plans to make a push for the championship.

“I definitely think we’re a championship team. I think we have the best pitching staff in the league, and we have many returning seniors coming back that were leaders and starters from last year,” senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Hoefer said. “We all share the same common goal in wanting to win a championship and I think we can achieve that together.”

While the team is full of different athletes with different strengths, the team realizes their chemistry and great leadership will allow them to flourish this season. 

“We all know that this is one of the best teams we’ve had so far,” Peter said. “Our chemistry just has to be insanely good because of what we’ve all been through. We’ve all known exactly what it’s like to lose a season so we’re all there and ready to go for this upcoming year.”

With confidence and great leadership, the team knows they can rely on their personal strengths to achieve their goals.

Asinas said one of his strengths as a player is his “ability to stay calm and collected even when things aren’t going great.”

The team continues their push for a GNAC championship with the Western Oregon University Wolves traveling to Ellensburg for two days worth of doubleheaders starting on March 13 at noon.