Nicholls baseball heads into the new season looking to improve on their 23-29 (9-18 in the Southland Conference) 2013 record.
The team will also look to improve on its ability to close out game in the coming season as last year they were 8-11 in games decided by two runs or less.
“It’s a mindset. It’s not anything ability wise. It’s a mature mindset and a tough mindset,” Coach Seth Thibodaux said. “We changed some things we were doing in the weight room to get better there, stronger because when you get into crunch time it’s going to come to toughness – mental toughness. Ultimately we’re better because we’re more mature.”
Coach Thibodaux touted the team’s maturity as the biggest improvement seen during the offseason.
“We got a good group of seniors and our team captains have done a phenomenal job. We’ve got some [returning players] who are hungry to be successful. They don’t just want to be mediocre. That’s the biggest difference.”
The leadership of the seniors and team captains has brought the team together for the upcoming season. Redshirt senior infielder Tyler Duplantis, a native of Thibodaux, La., believes in the team’s chemistry.
“[The team’s chemistry is] really good. Everyone’s brought in. I think this is a really tight knit group. Everyone knows that we’re here for each other,” Duplantis said. “Everyone knows that we’re here to protect each other no matter what. I think we’re good. We’re really focused and we’re ready to go.”
Duplantis, who led the team in batting average, on base percentage and hits, admitted to having a few flaws in his game but believes that he and the rest of the team have put in the extra work necessary in the offseason to improve in 2014.
“We’ve all been working hard this offseason. I think, personally, I had a decent year but there were some things that I wanted to improve on. My strikeouts were kind of high, my RBIs were kind of low,” Duplantis said. “Just been getting back into the cage. Just focusing back in and trying to make sure that everything is nice and simple. Keeping things simple. All of our guys have been working really hard just to accomplish our team goals this season.”
The Colonels baseball team will be looking for their hard work in the offseason to translate into success throughout the upcoming campaign.
“We have huge goals. We don’t want to be just okay. We want to be great. We want to add to the tradition of this university. We want to win the championship. We want to win the Southland conference. We want to be the best team in the state of Louisiana. We’re going to fight like hell,” Thibodaux said. “We want to win a conference championship whether it be a regular season or conference tournament. We want to get to regionals. We want to fight to get to Omaha, Neb.”