NEWBERRY — The Newberry College baseball team has achieved a milestone this year by garnering its first national ranking — 20th — since joining NCAA Division II in collegiate baseball.
The Wolves have also been ranked third in the Southeast Region Poll this year.
“We have gotten better each year. We won 30 games two years ago, we won 34 games last year,” said Head Coach Russell Triplett. “We finished second in the conference last year to the eventual conference runner-up, Catawba. We have gotten better in the conference each year as well.”
The team’s record so far this year is 14-7-1. The team started the season by defeating Lynn University (ranked 20th), Nova Southeastern University (ranked 17th) and Barry University in the SAC/Sunshine State Challenge. Newberry also won two of three against Catawba (ranked 18th), who was the 2015 SAC regular season champion and the 2015 NCAA College World Series runner-up.
Matthew Finley, director of athletics at Newberry College, said the last time the baseball team won 30 games was back in 1999.
When it comes to the SAC/Sunshine State Challenge, Triplett says it is tough to go down to South Florida and win every game. But Triplett doesn’t think the team looked at it that way. Instead, he said, the team looked at the games as a chance to show up and compete against someone else.
“I thought we played well, though these guys have accomplished a lot of good things over time. I do not know if you can put it on one weekend. I mean these guys finished last year winning 14 straight games to finish the year, which is pretty incredible,” he said.
The team had nine hits in a row during the first inning of this season, something Triplett said he has never seen. He added that it was a great weekend for the team.
Pitcher Daniel Nations said the toughest game for the team is the first one because there are a lot of emotions.
“Going down there for the first time in Florida, based on a team that is supposed to be really good, it’s just a lot of emotions. You prepare for that day for so long, it’s just hard to control your emotions,” the senior said.
When Triplett took over as head baseball coach six years ago, he said the biggest thing he wanted to change was the culture.
“We wanted to add the right type of character-makeup guys that wanted to do good things on and off the field. That is the biggest change over anything in the program,” he said. “We had the highest GPA in the conference over the last four years. This fall had a 3.4 team GPA, which is incredible.”
Triplett said the high GPA was a testament to the current senior players, and the seniors before them. He says they changed the culture and the expectations of the program.
When it comes to recruiting players, this is also what Triplett looks for. He says that while he obviously looks for good players, he also wants to find players that fit into their style.
“Coach (Jay) Snyder and the rest of the guys really work hard all year finding the right guys. Then it becomes, can the guy play, then to is he the right type of guy for us character-makeup wise,” Triplett said. “We try to do our homework and research guys, just to make sure they are going to fit in here and that they want to be here.”
They want players who want to push the program forward, and players who want to make the program better than when they arrived.
“Keep pushing it, not necessarily coming in and wanting to be a part of it, but coming in with a mindset to make it better,” Triplett said.
Senior Nolan Schrenker, a utility infielder, said he chose to play ball at Newberry College because he felt wanted. When he was in high school, he says he did not get many offers, but Triplett came down, they started talking and he just felt wanted.
“I did some research before I signed, saw the records steadily going up. They try and get guys to make the program better, and that is what I wanted to do. He (Triplett) told me I would have a chance to compete and battle for a position as soon as I stepped on the field and the campus,” Schrenker said. “I wanted to go somewhere I could play and contribute. This was the place, and I would not change that.”
Nations also said he felt wanted when he was being recruited, adding that if felt like it meant something to them, so it meant something to him.
Something that Triplett expects from his players is that they commit to the process of getting better each day, and that they work at it.
“We push these guys hard and ask for a commitment at the beginning and if they are not willing to make that commitment, this might not be the place for them,” he said. “I think the more work you put into something, the more it means to you.”
Players are expected to work out in season, practice and of course play. The players go about 20 hours a week, but Triplett said it is more than that because the NCAA only counts a game as three hours, even double header games.
Schrenker added that the coaches give them a game plan going into the new week, and they focus on the things they need to do to get better.
“We try to challenge these guys with a tough schedule and try to play the best teams we can play. I think they know we have to show up each day and play our best to win. I think that is what you want as a competitor, match up against good teams,” Triplett said.