Baseball Team Hoping for Big Turnaround in Conference Play

Sacred Heart University’s men’s baseball is looking to turn their luck around and win the Northeast Conference. Photo by Sacred Heart Athletics.

By Kendall Clark

Nick Giaquinto, head coach of the Sacred Heart
University baseball team, said that his biggest goal is to win the NEC (Northeast Conference).

So far, the team is 7-14 overall.

“Well it’s going, we started off well. A lot of the guys seemed like they were comfortable. Had some quality
at-bats and quality pitching performances. However, for the past few weekends we’ve been struggling. I’m confident that the guys will be looking forward to putting in the extra work to get better,” said Giaquinto.

Giaquinto realizes that an extraordinary amount of
work will need to be put in to get the team to reach their potential this year.

“It would be consistency in all areas. I think early on we had a little more consistency on the mound and defensively and also more at the plate. That’s what we’re looking for,” said Giaquinto.

All of the teams that the Sacred Heart baseball team has played are out of conference opponents. Meaning that it’s essentially a fresh start for them.

The men’s baseball team will open up a three game series this weekend against Central Connecticut State.

“It’s so early though. No matter what happens, it would impact the rest of the season,” said Giaquinto.

He furthermore talked about the bitter sweetness of what it would be to win a NEC conference championship in his last year of coaching.

“Being able to send G [Giaquinto] out with one more ring would be a very cool feeling,” said senior Keith Klebart. “We’ve showed some positive things. We beat the fifteenth ranked school in the country in Florida Gulf Coast. We’ve struggled for the last few games, but we have a lot of potential.”

Although it’s a very positional sport, there is a huge emphasis on team development.

“You know it’s just what coach said. We just got to
execute better. We have to hit better. We have to pitch better. It’s just about being clutch. If we can do the small things and just execute. We’ll be good,” said Klebart.

Although the mentality is to win, it’s all about
having fun.

“I’m looking forward to each and every game. Personally speaking I only have a finite amount left, so I want to enjoy them while they last as best I can. Hopefully we as a team can come together and win games over this stretch and put together a quality run at this conference,” said senior captain Jake Friar.

Everyone is motivated to win, improve and get better. Four of the next five opponents are in conference so the team is excited to get better.

“It’s all about winning at this point, we just have to consistently improve. It’s all about bringing home the gold,” said Giaquinto.

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