Lehigh baseball team changing its mindset to overcome season-long struggle

Picked to finish tied for third in the Patriot League preseason poll, the Lehigh baseball team was expected to be among the top teams in the conference.

That hasn’t been the case so far this season, as a 16-24 record and 10 losses in the 13 games prior to this weekend’s sweep over Lafayette has Lehigh currently on the outside looking in at a potential playoff spot.

“Most situations like this might say that this (injuries and inexperience) is an issue,” junior infielder Chris Kersey said. “But with regards to experience, we have a very senior-heavy lineup. I think their experience in the lineup has played to our advantage, especially when it comes to keeping our cool and keeping our composure.”

Kersey added the team has two freshmen, Jason Reynolds and Levi Stoudt, in its starting rotation who have done an exceptional job throwing strikes.

Freshman infielder Blake Rapoport said players have stepped up and given the team good innings. However, Rapoport offered his own explanation as to why the season has been going the way it has.

“The main thing we’ve been struggling with is timely hitting,” Rapoport said. “Like the guys are hitting the ball hard, we just haven’t put together good combinations of innings where we get guys in good positions to score.”

In order to combat the recent losses, Kersey said coach Sean Leary has to fix the team’s mentality by asking it to relax.

“Our main focus is to let loose,” Kersey said. “We feel like we’re playing a little uptight and we’re pressing a little bit, whether that’s because of the current record we have or that’s because of the battle that we have to perform within the next two weekends.”

Kersey said one of the team’s approaches is to take a step back and realize at the end of the day, it’s just a game. He said the players are trying to let loose and enjoy what they’re doing.

“The main thing that coach (Leary) has been preaching to us since the guys have been so uptight is that he wants us to go out and have fun and play the game,” Rapoport said.

Even as the players are trying out this new mentality, they are still focused on pushing forward and competing for a playoff berth, their ultimate goal.

“Obviously, our aspirations are very much to still make the playoffs and make a run,” Kersey said. “We feel like we’re in a good position to do so — however, our approach is to take things one series at a time all the way down the line and not get ahead of ourselves. We’re still in a good spot and we just have to take our time.”

Despite the team’s 6-10 record to start Patriot League play, Kersey said the team was still able to perform well. He said while things may look dim now, there is still hope.

The team knows in order to succeed it can’t keep focusing on the past. It just has to push forward and look on to the next contest.

“We still have to perform in big situations down the stretch and in big situations during those games,” Kersey said. “But while we’re doing that, we just have to keep going one pitch at a time, one game at a time and one series at a time. We can’t win the fifth game without winning the first four.”

In the team’s next couple weeks, it’ll be looking to pick up wins against University of Maryland Eastern Shore on April 26 and Army on April 30.The series against Army will be the Mountain Hawks’ final chance to make a push for a Patriot League Tournament berth.