The MLB season is winding down and the Virginia baseball team is in the midst of the offseason; however, the Virginia club baseball team is gearing up for an exciting fall season. This weekend the team will play Radford in a two-game series.
The club just completed tryouts for new members and has added seven new players for the year. The team is eager to get their new members some experience in order to get the newcomers acclimated to the competitive nature of the club sports world. This weekend's series should provide an excellent opportunity for the new members and veterans to get back into the groove of things.
Radford is a team on the rise. The school recently started its club baseball team and hopes to build it into a nationally acclaimed program. However, currently the Radford club team is in the beginning stages of its buildup; therefore, this weekend's series should provide a good opportunity for some of the team's inexperienced and younger players to get some playing time.
That is not to belittle the series against Radford, though. An important aspect of this weekend's series is that it will provide the basis for the fall season and determine what state the team is in.
"We lost a couple key players," senior and team president Joe Orville said. "We really want to fill those holes and figure out who's going to be the best person for the job at each position this fall."
More importantly, the club has a very tough series coming up next weekend. The team will be traveling to Harrisonburg to face James Madison. Typically James Madison is one of the best teams in the conference and this weekend's series against Radford will provide an opportunity for the team to gauge its abilities.
Admittedly the club baseball team had a sub-par season last year. The team was not as competitive within its conference because of several internal issues. Many of the club members simply stopped coming to practice. However, this year is a new year.
The new vanguard of the team is changing things. The leaders of the team were upset about the events and results of last year and are ready to put the past behind them. The team enters this year with a new motto and high expectations.
Orville, a dedicated and respected leader, wants to get the team back to the club baseball World Series, which the team has not been to in a number of years. With a new sense of dedication, participation and passion the team has responded positively to Orville's changes. The Radford series this weekend should provide a good measure for the fall season and perhaps the spring season. If the team performs well this weekend, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that the team could make it to the World Series.
"I think [the Radford series] will set the tone for the fall season because next week we have a tough series against James Madison," senior Corey Sedwick said. "If we go out there this weekend and play well that will set the bar very high for the rest of the fall and spring season."
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