The Northern Oklahoma College Mavericks open the 2021 baseball season Tuesday at home against Hesston. First pitch is at noon.
The Mavs, under 7th year head coach Ryan Bay, are ranked 3rd in the NJCAA pre-season poll.
The Mavs were 23-4 last season when the season was canceled due to Covid-19.
“We’ve got a good group of guys that have dealt with Covid-19 and the restrictions really well,” Bay said. “They’ve all made personal sacrifices to give our team a chance to play this spring.”
Bay said depth of starting pitching should be a key for the Mavs’ 2021 season.
“Depth on the mound should be a strength if we can stay healthy,” he said. “We return five of our top six arms from last season and have added some very capable freshmen arms and one semester transfer.”
Returning pitchers include Jacob Ellis, Jackie Robinson, Josh Bumgarner, Blake Hubbard, Kirby Lohrengel, Chase Defillippo, Zach Stephenson, and Clayton Solomon.
Returning position players include Hayden Priest, Geo Black-shaw, Sam Shank, Holden Bartosovsky, and Bryant Bailey.
One of Bays’ concerns is the lack of preparation time for the Feb. 2 opener.
“We only had 17 days in spring semester to get ready for our season opener on Feb. 2,” he said. “We normally get twice that much time to prepare after Christmas break but other schools are dealing with similar scenario so it’s something most of us are dealing with.”
How did Covid-19 affect the Mavs’ preparation for the season.
“It prevented us from playing any outside competition in fall scrimmages,” he added. “Those scrimmages are where we normally go through growing pains as a team and find out what areas we need to focus on more and what adjustments we need to try in line ups and pitching rotations. Those are things we’ll have to work through on the fly this spring.”
Bay said the Mavs are just grateful to be playing.
“We’re all just thankful to be given the chance to play this spring. Our guys have worked really hard to this point and can’t wait for the season opener.”
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