Nicholls baseball prepares for the 2019 season

After a season with ups and downs, the men’s baseball team is set to begin its new spring season. Sudden injuries gave the team a slow start in 2018, but through their hard work, leadership and discipline, they ended up going to the conference tournament.

“[Finishing the season strong can be used] as motivation, which I really think this team has in the off-season, but by no means, there is no way to just flip over to the next year, because this is a whole new team, whole new season, whole new everything. This is a different mindset, different expectation, but how we finished last year can amp up our expectation level,” head coach Seth Thibodeaux said.

However, it was no coincidence that the team managed to turn around a slow start. For Thibodeaux, it was all due to the players’ discipline and ability to stay motivated in tough situations.

“It took extreme leadership, pride, care, passion and love to get through what we’ve been through, with the amount of injuries that we’ve had in some very important spots and freshmen having to step up that have never played at this level before,” Thibodeaux said.

Sophomore Xane Washington agreed, stating that another factor that took part in helping the team through last season was having trust in the program and his teammates.

“I have to say, trusting your teammates is important. You always know that they are going to have your back no matter what the situation is,” Washington said.

Parker White, a senior pitcher, said that last season has taught the team and him new qualities that they can bring into the new season.

“I think we learned a lot of toughness last year. We learned that no matter what happens, we are always able to come back and that we need to start faster. We started a little slow last year, so we need to start playing our best baseball instead of warming up as the season goes,” White said.

Nonetheless, White said he is motivated to get started. He said that trusting the program and his teammates are going to be a key in the new season.

“Personally, I feel really good. I think we have a great team, and we are focusing on being the best team in Louisiana, so I’m looking forward to the season,” White said. “We’ve been focusing on team unity. One of the terms that we use is ‘total trust.’ We want to be able to trust the team no matter the situation. So, if one guy doesn’t get it done, we know that the next guy is going to get it done.”

Thibodeaux said that the team is working hard on final adjustments before the season starts.

“Our focus, really, has been moving on from where we are at right now. We need to learn how to start fast and finish. We know how to start pretty fast, but we have an issue with finishing properly, and that’s a maturity that needs to come from our players,” Thibodeaux said. “Knowing how to finish means knowing how to win. We are not there yet, [but] that is something that we are working on the next few weeks before our first games in about two weeks.”

The baseball team will play an alumni game on Feb. 2 at Ray E. Didier Field.