Canceled games and a rocky start at the beginning of the season hasn’t stop USI’s baseball team from competing.

Currently ranked second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings, the team is only continuing to improve its game.

Being the defending champions, the team knows it has a target on its back. Junior infielder Trent Gunn said being the defending champions can also bring a lot of pressure.

“There’s a lot of pressure on your right when the season starts,” he said, “to be as good as you were the year before, it’s just hard to block out all the negativity. You have to start all over basically and realize it’s a different team and figure out a way to be as good as we were and we are starting to come together now.”

The team has won its last four games, which helped the Eagles rise in the rankings. The team as a whole has been practicing diligently and has seen results.

Senior infielder and pitcher Matt Chavarria said there are certain things the team has been doing well lately that have helped them have so much success.

“Executing, I feel like the earlier part of the season we didn’t do that a lot,” he said. “We tended to leave a lot of players on base when we had opportunities and that’s really why we lost a big chunk of the games we have. But lately, we have been executing well hitting runners with smart position, making pitches and making plays when we have to.”

The team has a lot of superstitious guys, so there’s a few things they do before every game to prepare themselves.

“We have a couple things we do as far as batting practice infield and what not,” Gunn said. “Guys do what they call a star stretch, where they lay on the grass and do a bunch of weird stuff, I don’t partake in that, but a lot of them do it. I usually try to get a backflip in before the game.”

They may have not started off the season the way they wanted, but the players have gained a lot of momentum. Freshman infielder Same Griggs said he feels the season has improved a lot since the start.

“We are starting to turn it around and starting to show some life that we knew we had,” he said. “We are starting to show out the way we wanted to be.”

The players are passionate about being out on the field no matter what day it is. Chavarria said he loves baseball and could be out playing it all day, which is what makes the team so much fun.

“I love baseball. It’s my passion and always has been,” he said. “Just being out here and getting to come to the baseball field – there’s nothing better. I love being out here and could stay out here all day if I wanted to.”

The baseball season is a long one and spending so much time with each other brings the guys closer. Gunn said being on the team is like having a second family.

“You meet a lot of good guys. You get really close, spend a lot of time together and it’s like your second family,” he said. “I love being around them and could be around them everyday.”