Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: Sports

Mitch Heinemeyer gets thrown out at the plate against conference opponents, Concordia-Wisconsin. The Muskies split the double-header to the Falcons with a winning score of 11-1 and a 6-5 loss.

The tough conference competition seems to be a little overwhelming for the Lakeland baseball team as of late as they sunk to a 4-4 conference record on Tuesday, April 10 with a split double-header against Concordia University of Wisconsin, with a winning score of 11-1 and a 6-2 loss. This sinks the Muskies to a 8-12 overall record and 4-4 in conference.

Through the tough times, the bats have remained alive for the Muskies. Tyler Schmitt is third in the conference with .446 batting average. The senior also holds a .500 slugging percentage and a .515 on base percentage. He also is doing well on the bases with nine stolen bases.

The team combined for 61 hits in the six games prior to Concordia. Ten hits per game on average should equal into runs but that is not how the season has been unfolding this year.

"We have been saying all year long, that we should lead the nation in stranded runs," said head coach Chris Thousand. "That is something that we are trying to change. Against MSOE, we had bases loaded twice and we did not score a run. Everyday in practice, we are working on guys picking up RBIs. We need to take a more mental approach."

The mound work has not been spectacular for the Muskies this season. Since leaving spring training the team has combined for a 4.88 earned run average per game. This is not a horrible statistic; however, the Muskies will find it hard to win if this number does not drop.

"Pitching has been struggling," said Thousand. "They were doing very good at the beginning of the year but they have died down a little bit but they will come back strong. I am confident of that."

The bright light on the mound currently is Zach Schmitz who is sitting pretty with a 2.67 earned run average on the year and 20 strikeouts in 27 inning pitched. The problem seems to occur with the defense while the senior pitches. Schmitz is averaging five runs allowed per game which means the defense is adding an additional 2.33 runs per game on to the scoreboard with mistakes.

Inclement weather has also spelled trouble for the Muskies because of massive cancellations in the schedule. The Muskies under went an unwilling ten-day haitus before the MSOE double-header due to poor weather conditions. Long breaks take tolls on the athletes' mental and physical composure and is tough to bounce back successfully.

"We have tried scrimmaging during practice and stuff like that in game speed. It's hard. You can't emulate game speed during practice in baseball. That hurt us."

The Muskies have a break until the weekend where they go on the road to face conference foe Rockford at noon.

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