After nine-game losing streak, West Lafayette baseball flips script on season
WEST LAFAYETTE − Simple standard expectations.
Run to and from the dugout. Take an extra base here and there.
First-year West Lafayette head baseball coach Aaron Wood inherited a talented roster.
The things that needed tweaked were quite simple, really, more how the team approaches each opportunity rather than how it performs.
"When you clean up the stuff outside the lines, the stuff inside the lines starts to get a lot easier," said Evan Cooke, one of seven seniors on the roster. "We've seen that so far this year. And I think if we keep continuing to do that, we're going to keep winning games."
The minor adjustment to how the Red Devils approach each day has flipped the script on the season.
West Lafayette won its season opener, then promptly lost nine in a row.
When the Red Devils finally won again, they turned around and lost the following night to drop to 2-10.
"Even though they were 1-9, they stayed insanely positive," Wood said. "It's a credit to them because it's easy to get down in this game because it's a hard game. Credit to the kids for staying with us and just continuing to go to work every day."
After beating Lewis Cass 14-3 Friday night at Bob Friend Field, West Lafayette has now won seven of its last eight games.
"The turning point for us is really just getting little things done," senior Valin Hedden said. "Coming to practice on time. Running to and from the locker room. Making sure gloves are on certain sides. Just getting simple, minute details down."
Slowly, but surely, then more rapidly, improvement came with taking care of those controllable aspects.
"We saw improvement game to game and as long as we were improving, we could be happy with that," Cooke said. "It's tough to be in a spot like that (losing nine in a row), but we really battled."
Prior to the season, West Lafayette had sectional championship goals.
The Red Devils, loaded with a roster full of players who've won sectional titles in other sports, haven't raised a postseason trophy in baseball since 2011.
"That's kind of the goal, to peak at the end of the season, and I think that's what we're doing," Wood said. "We just want to remain confident.
"We're going to take it game by game, but we're in a better position now than we were a month ago. To believe that, that is kind of exciting."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: West Lafayette baseball flips script on season
