Coming into the game against Waconia, the baseball team was riding a six-game winning streak after a win against Chanhassen the previous night. However, the team wasn’t able to extend its streak, as coach Brian Kelly said Waconia proved to be the better team that night.

“It was just one of those games where they just beat us in. We had opportunities to capitalize, this was one of those games where there’s no real excuses. They just got us,” Kelly said.

Sophomore Danny Montanez said the team didn’t have any exceptional struggles, but couldn’t deliver against Waconia’s pitching.

“We did pretty good. Tough pitcher, nothing we can do different,” Montanez said. “Defense could have been a little better. We should have been more aggressive hitting. Offense could have been a little better.”

According to senior Ben Farley, while the team played adequate defense, he identified the lack of offense as the main pitfall of the team.

“We could have done better hitting the ball,” Farley said. “We were good in the field, but at the end of the day, we did not come out on top.”

In hindsight, Kelly said the team could’ve accounted for the umpire’s strike zone and been more eager to swing at pitches early in the count.

“We could have adjusted to an umpire with a wide strike zone a little bit better and our bats could have been a little bit more aggressive early in the count,” Kelly said.

Looking ahead to the next game, Montanez said the loss shouldn’t impact the team significantly.

“It’s just one game, it doesn’t really matter. I think we can come out stronger, offense will be rolling,” Montanez said.

Farley said being able to move on from losses like this will help the team focus better in future games.

“We just have to forget about it, just think about any other game. Go get the win, play hard,” Farley said.

The team will have the opportunity to bounce back at 6 p.m. May 18 at Dakota Park against Orono.