BY ETHAN BOOE
The Fort Hays State University baseball team dropped the first two games in their home opener Saturday, but Coach Jerod Goodale and his players gained a positive outlook on the rest of the season after winning Game 3 on Sunday against Pitt State at Larks Park.
The Tigers started the season with a disappointing 0-6 record, but the final game of the series Sunday showed the team is more than capable of winning against the best in the MIAA. FHSU’s 11-10 victory was the result of the players’ desire to lay it all on the line — and a dominating team pitching performance.
The Tigers struggled the first two games against the Gorillas, who are coached by former FHSU coach Bob Fornelli — who Goodale played for during his own FHSU career as a catcher.
Goodale didn’t think anyone in the program thought the team was going to lose the first six games of the season — especially after a promising start last spring that saw the Tigers earn an 11-13 record before COVID-19 shut down the year. FHSU went 3-40 in 2019, Goodale’s first with the Tigers.
“Baseball has a unique way of humbling everyone,” Goodale said. “That’s the beauty of this game.”
Sophomore shortstop Conner Kessler knew the energy of the team was down after the first two games Saturday. In those losses, the Tigers struggled with multiple errors and dropped balls in one inning.
“As a team, even when we are down, we have to still have the energy to be able to believe in battling back for each other,” Kessler said.
The shortstop thought the motivation to play for each other was inspired by Goodale, and everything changed in Game 3.
“Coach Goodale took initiative and ripped into us explaining how we needed to play for each other,” said Kessler, who finished with three hits in the game. “From the start of the game, you knew we came to play with swagger and intent. Having that change in energy and stern talking to was the difference in the last game of the series.”
Solid pitching helped as well. FHSU struck out 17 Pitt State batters, including 11 by winning pitcher Jake Campbell. The 17 strikeouts were the most for the team since the 2001 season.
“I loved how we responded in Game 3 in terms of energy, intensity and competitiveness,” said junior pitcher Jacob Douglas, who threw 1.1 innings in a loss Saturday. “Even though it took us too long to bring that, it was nice to come through with a full team effort.”
Goodale said the players were trying to do too much offensively in the first two games after the disappointing first weekend in Denver, which saw the Tigers go 0-4 against Metro State.
“To find a way to win a dogfight on Sunday against a good team that had not been beaten was very encouraging moving forward,” Goodale said.
Douglas believes the third game against Pitt State was promising in terms of the rest of the season.
“Now that we have shown ourselves that we’re very capable of winning against good teams, I think we can build from here and take off as a group,” he said.
The Tigers look to continue their recent success as they move forward to a road series Saturday and Sunday at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla.