After a dismal start to the season, Bloom-Carroll baseball responds in a big way
CARROLL — When the Bloom-Carroll baseball team started the season by losing its first five games and seven out of the first eight, it raised eyebrows, mainly because the Bulldogs aren’t used to losing.
Starting the season 0-5 was not ideal, but during that stretch, the Bulldogs were missing a few starters to injuries and they were playing a tough nonconference schedule.
However, to their credit, they never wavered and stayed the course. The Bulldogs not only rebounded and were able to get back to .500 midway through the season, they have now won 13 out of their last 14 games, and just clinched the Mid-State League-Buckeye Division championship.
It was the Bulldogs’ third league title in the past four years and their 14th in the last 16 seasons.
“We went into the season with six new starters,” Bloom-Carroll coach Jason Vest said. “We graduated a good senior class and then you take two of your starters out, and now you have eight new starters in the lineup. We took our lumps early. We lost some tough games and six of our first seven were by one run against good teams. At that point, our guys easily could have folded, but they wanted to keep getting better.
“We could have put the season in the tank, but they made a commitment to work hard and get better, and we talked about being the best version of themselves and that’s what they are doing.”
Junior shortstop and leadoff hitter Tryce Chaffin, the unquestionable emotional leader of the team, said the Bulldogs kept the faith even during trying times.
“It was tough losing those games early, but coaches just kept telling us to trust the process,” Chaffin said. “We knew we were going to get some guys back, and once we got healthy, we all trusted the process and kept doing the little things and everything started falling in the right place, and here we are.”
Bloom-Carroll has a winning culture in all sports — the football, basketball, and now baseball teams, all won league championships this season — and Vest said the expectation of winning is huge and is what kept his team afloat during their early-season struggles.
“Winning begets winning, and you look at basketball and football and they won championships,” Vest said. “We have kids that play multiple sports. Our kids work hard, they expect to win and they don’t like to lose. They have high expectations, so when we struggled early, I knew this group would find a way.”
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Bloom-Carroll baseball responds to slow start to season in a big way
