As the spring season approaches, the Bellarmine baseball knights are still taking steps, whether it be on the field or in the weight room, to improve their competitiveness at the highest level of college sports.
Jacob Mulcahy, a fifth-year senior, played three seasons in the Great Lakes Valley Conference as a Division II athlete. However, he sat out the majority of his junior year due to COVID-19 but is going into his second D-1 season. Mulcahy said, “I was really excited about it, not just for the athletes but for the whole entire school.”
Mulcahy said he there is definitely a drive to elevate work ethic and focus a little more playing as a D1 athlete. “There is a lot more focus on looking at scouting reports and analytics compared to just going out there and playing,” he said. He said the main difference is having more attention to detail and consistency.
Steve Hartman, Bellarmine’s head coach for sports performance, said there is a bigger demand for new equipment with teams expanding and growing in the Atlantic Sun conference. “We are challenged with land and what we can use,” he said.
“If we can make something like that happen, it would be everything,” Hartman said. Baseball, along with all the other teams, will have capabilities to strive for success.
With athletes having more demanding hours, Hartman has adapted his schedule to accommodate all athletes from every sport. He hired 2 more assistants because he did not have anough hours in a day to work with every athlete on every Bellarmine team.
Sophomore Jackson Case is a first-year college baseball player and said he is excited to see what his season will be like. “It has given me many opportunities and allows me to play against the best competition week in and week out,” he said.
Baseball coach Larry Owens said, the schedule is the biggest difference he has seen since in the transition from D-II to D-I. Owens does not see the point in changing many things because his players were consisiently competing and doing the right things.
“You know, the level of play is a little different. There’s more power arms on the weekends, such as conference starting pitchers. There’s more power, more velocity than typically you’d see on a weekend at the Division II level,” he said.
As players manage to adapt to their intense workload and studies, they will continue to be the best they can be.
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