The St. Olaf Baseball team officially started their spring season traveling south to Florida to play their first games of the season this February. The Oles then traveled to Iowa the next weekend, and they spent the weekend of March 14-15 back down in Florida. So far, their season has not looked great, but there is still a long season ahead, and a lot of great players on the team.
While there is a large number of upperclassmen, the team added 13 freshmen to the roster this year.
“I can’t say enough good things about the freshmen we have. They are a great group of guys, all really care about baseball, and have merged well with the rest of the team,” Mason Buck ’26 said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “They have definitely improved baseball-wise since the fall, and we are going to need them this year because they are very talented.”
“One of the great facets of college coaching is the fact that the personality of the team changes every year through the addition of new players and others graduating,” Head Coach Matt McDonald said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “There was an adjustment in fall practice with the new group, but it was a smooth transition. We have fantastic senior leaders that have led the process.”
With the weather in Minnesota constantly changing, the team has had to travel for early-season games.
“We were forced to think outside the box with our travel, since the late St. Olaf spring break takes place within the MIAC [Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference] schedule,” McDonald said. “Our goal with our non-conference schedule is to play teams that will help us compete for a championship in the MIAC.”
The team is able to play 20 games before conference play starts, and they intend to play every single one.
“Every win we get in March will be a good one,” McDonald said. “Though the travel is challenging, the guys handle it well. They get off the bus and compete.”
Back in February, the team traveled for the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. In the first game of the season against Allegheny College, the Oles won 14-3 in only seven innings due to the mercy rule. That weekend, they took home three wins from their four games, only losing 7-11 to Grove City College in the final game of the weekend.
On March 7, the team traveled to Iowa to take on Luther College, only winning one of the four games that weekend. The next weekend, the baseball team was scheduled to play three games against Wartburg College. After losing the first two games on Saturday, the team continued the unlucky weekend with their third game getting canceled.
“We have been a little unlucky and definitely have some areas for improvement,” McDonald said. “Teams have played really well against us and we are hoping the great competition helps us in the MIAC season.”
“Our record isn’t that big of a deal until conference play,” Buck said. “It’s a lot more about improvement and being more focused on the process [rather] than on the results.”
On the third weekend of March, the team returned to Central Florida. Out of the six games played, the team only saw one win against Union College in a 10-inning game, winning 6-5.
As this is still early in the season, the team has a lot of time to grow.
“It feels like we aren’t playing to our potential yet,” Buck said. “We have been really focused in practice to adjust on an individual level and, as a team, what we need to do differently.”
The team hopes to go on and win the MIAC this year, and believes that it has the right elements to do so.
“We have fantastic culture on and off the field,” McDonald said. “Our guys really work at the game and care about each other.”
There will only be a few opportunities to see the St. Olaf Baseball team compete at home, so come out and support them.
“We love when a lot of people come out to our games,” Buck said. “We’ve always played better when we get more fans at our home games.”
