After going 0-6 in the first inning against Wheeler a week ago, the Pirates came back and finished the game with a walkoff double by Arvee’a Ford for a 7-6 victory. Following that win, the Pirates managed to continue the winning streak against Hammond Central beating them 11-4.
These victories helped turn things around after a slow start for the team.
“Every day proposes a new challenge, and every day we want to be prepared for that challenge as a team,” Coach Joey Traina said.
This year’s season is challenging considering all the seniors who graduated last season, but luckily the team has juniors who have been starting since freshman year to fill the roles.
“This year is going to be different because of the growth that the underclassmen have shown over the years,” Coach Traina said. “We have a few juniors that have been starting varsity since they were freshmen, so the leadership roles as well as positional roles are significantly different due to the seniors that graduated.”
Junior Trevor Goodwin agrees that experience is the main difference.
“We got a couple of sophomores that we brought up from last year’s JV, so hopefully they’ll be able to help us,” he said.
A part of the winning boils down to how much chemistry the team has. The team often does team bonding, things like going out to the batting cages, going out to eat, and spending time at each other’s houses. Overall, this helps the team become closer, which builds trust on the field.
“I feel like we’re a lot closer as a team, but I also feel like our youth is kind of getting the best of us when it comes to what’s been happening on the field,” Junior Captain Kaleb Henry said.
The team has a lot of goals that they want to accomplish this season.
“As a team, we want to compete with the other teams in our conference. The DAC is always one of the toughest baseball conferences, but we want to preach the belief that we are on their level,” Coach Traina said.
Along with team goals, players have their own individual goals.
“I want to get more college interest. I have specific stats, like I want to bet over .400 and also accomplish 20 stolen bases,” Goodwin said.
Meanwhile, Henry wants “to bat over 300 and have more than 50 strikeouts and a sub 3.00 ERA.”
Junior Darien Wiggins is aiming to play ball in college.
“I want to turn heads and have a high batting average,” he said.
Most of all, the team is learning to come together and play as a team.
“We wanted to change the Merrillville baseball narrative. We got tired of losing,” Goodwin said.
