The AGWSR baseball team is in the middle of a rare mid-week stretch of two consecutive off days.
When they host Dike-New Hartford Thursday, Head Coach Justin Kerns hopes his team has a renewed focus and is able to bounce back. The Cougars have two walk-off losses in their last three games, an 8-7 loss to East Marshall and a 4-3 loss to Gladbrook-Reinbeck.
“We’ve got to play the game until that last out’s made, and we can’t come into that bottom half of the inning thinking we got this one and not expect the ball being hit to us,” Kerns says. “We’ve got to expect the ball to be hit to us every time. We have to make the routine plays and get the outs when they’re there. That’s what it comes down to, when routine plays are there, we’re not making them. It’s frustrating because I know they can do it. It’s just having that mental focus that ‘Alright, when it comes to me here, I’m gonna close this game out.'”
Two regular season home games remain. After Thursday’s game, they’ll play at a tournament at Colo-Nesco, where they’ll play a first round postseason preview against the hosts. They’ll close the regular season by hosting Iowa Falls-Alden on Monday, July 1. Kerns says the strength of schedule will have his team ready for the Class 1A postseason, having played mostly schools in Class 2A.
“Moving into the postseason. I feel real good about where we’re at. Obviously our record does not reflect a very successful season at this point, but I feel really good at where we’re at in competing in games. We’re playing a lot of 2A schools. I know GR is 1A, but a lot of times we’re playing 2A schools and we’re hanging in there with them. The biggest thing for us is keeping the boys mentality, you know, keeping their confidence up. Don’t think that you’re a terrible team because you’re getting beat by these teams. Keep the confidence. We know we can play with them. We can play with anyone when we’re playing good ball.”
Thursday’s game will start at 7:00 p.m.
