Despite a rough initial two weekends of games, the Stormers baseball team is hopeful that their abundance of returning sophomore leaders can guide them to a successful 2014 season.
Shortstop Nate Van Ells, center fielder Brad Jacobs, pitcher Josh Brock, and center fielder Zach Taylor headline a team looking to bounce back from a disappointing first seven games that have only resulted in two victories.
Perhaps the strongest contributing factor to the team’s struggles has been playing games outdoors while only having been able to practice indoors. To hear it from first baseman Tyler Dorsey, the team agrees. “These were our first days outside so we had to adjust from indoors to outdoors,” Dorsey shared, who is hopeful going forward. “I expect that we should get a good couple of wins after starting off rough and take a turn for the best after that.”
Also hopeful is Head Coach Frank Cimorelli. He sees a group of players coming back for another season that should be able to take from what they accomplished last year. “The comparisons to last year is the guys did kind of go through some struggles, but they needed to get that experience and work through those things that they needed to work on as freshmen,” Cimorelli stated. “Make some of those adjustments and we’re expecting them to be able to apply a lot of the information that we gave them last year to their games this year.”

Incoming players have a special set of challenges to gain that sort of experience over the course of the year. Cimorelli knows what’s in store for them. “For most freshmen, the adjustment from high school baseball to college baseball is a big adjustment,” Cimorelli said.
Recent rule shifts have forced even Cimorelli to adapt. “The game has kind of changed a little bit over the last couple of years when they’ve changed the specifications on the bat. The bats used to be a lot more lively,” Cimorelli explained. “In the past, we would have been able to hit a lot more home runs so now we’ve got to do all of the little things that teams need to do to be successful. We’ve got to move runners over. We have to be able to bunt. We’ve got to be able to steal bases when those situations come up, and our pitchers need to throw good low strikes early in the count, make the other team swing the bat.”
Returning sophomore and captain Van Ells has the utmost confidence in the team’s ability to start winning. “I have high hopes for this team, we have a lot of talent,” Van Ells asserted. “We’ve been practicing hard this whole offseason. I think we’re going to do something special this season.”
The Stormers begin conference play and their home schedule on Saturday March. 29 vs. Rock Valley College.