After setting a school record for most home runs and doubles last season, the baseball team entered this year with high expectations. However, the first half of the season proved challenging, with a 6–11 record heading into conference play.
The team has shown resilience, snapping a seven-game game losing streak with a strong win against Central College. Since then, the team has gone on a six-game winning streak and, at the time of writing, holds a 3-0 overall record in conference play.
Pitcher Jakob Runkel `26 attributed much of the early struggle to significant roster turnover.
“We only have five seniors, and we lost 15 players from last season,” Runkel said. “We lost key pitchers, strong hitters and a lot of leadership. We went from being a very experienced team to a very young one.”
The reduced senior class has also required returning players to take on expanded leadership roles.
“We’ve all had to step into responsibilities we haven’t been asked to handle before,” Runkel said.
Head coach Tim Hollibaugh echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the challenges of fielding a young roster.
“We’re very young, including starting a couple of first-year players, so there are going to be some growing pains,” Hollibaugh said.
Despite these challenges, Hollibaugh commended the seniors for their leadership efforts.
“It’s often difficult to follow a large senior class with a smaller one,” Hollibaugh said. “That increases the leadership burden, but this group has embraced it and is working to bring out the best in the team.”
Runkel noted that early adversity is a natural part of the team’s development process.
“Life’s not always going to be great, but you just gotta keep going, keep working and eventually our time will come,” said Runkel.
Holibaugh emphasized the valuable experience the younger players are gaining, which will carry on throughout their time at Grinnell.
“As they move up the age chain, they’re gaining more experience. Quite a few of them are getting playing time. And so they’re gaining valuable experience,” he said. “And you hope that they learn how to make adjustments, because in any sport, the quicker you can adjust, the better chance you have for success.”
Holibaugh believes this experience is especially important for a small college like Grinnell where players typically stay and develop through the four years.
“We don’t have a lot of transfers, and we have guys for four years, and so you have to develop them, focusing initially on the fundamentals, so that they are able to do things in the right way. And as they master those things, you can start to progress them to different levels,” he said. “So it’s a learning curve, and so patience right now is not only among the coaches.”
Despite the slow start, the team has maintained a composed mindset.
“There’s no stress. We just know that we’re gonna keep playing, and there’s a lot of trust in the next guy that we’re just gonna get it done,” said Runkel.
Team bonding has also played a key role in the group’s recent progress. Runkel pointed to the team’s spring break trip to Florida as a turning point.
“After spring break, everybody’s got a lot closer. When you spend 15 hours on the bus multiple times, you get to know a lot about everybody, what they like and what they don’t like, and just really start to come together as a team,” he said.
The improved chemistry has translated into results on the field.
“We swept Knox, which is a great start to conference play,” Runkel said. “But we know we can play better, and we will. Still, wins are wins, especially in conference.”
Hollibaugh emphasized the importance of continued growth moving forward.
“We need to improve day by day,” he said. “If we do that, we’ll put ourselves in a strong position to succeed. We have a lot of potential and are making progress, but we still have work to do to reach where we want to be.”
The team will face Cornell College at home on Tuesday, April 7.
