Author: Noah Winslow

On March 11, we (University of Lynchburg) beat Pfieffer in dramatic fashion, with a backward strikeout to get out of a bases-loaded jam with a one-run lead. It was our 11th win in our last 13 games and we were as confident as ever as a team, so you would think we would be extremely excited getting on the bus after our game. However, people started checking their phones after the game and the vibe took a full 180. Schools were closing, games and tournaments were getting canceled, and we knew Lynchburg baseball was up next. Within 36 hours of this dramatic win, we were told we had to be off-campus before the weekend and our season was over. 

I was in pure denial for the first week I was home. One day I was in full tilt season mode and the next day I was packing up and going home. I didn’t want to get out of that in-season mode, but that just wasn’t an option at this point. The second half of the semester started off with online classes, video meetings with our team, and at-home workouts. It was honestly a difficult transition for me and for a team that was playing championship-level baseball. This team was by far the best baseball team I have ever been a part of.

There were so many tough decisions that had to be made for seniors, like me. Whether or not to exercise the fifth-year option and go to graduate school, or take my chances in finding a job in a very tough job market. I had to think about how realistic grad school was financially, the state the world would be in come 2021, and so many other factors when making this decision. It was something that I was not prepared to make when going into the season. These thoughts were just running through my head day in and day out.

Throughout the second half of the semester, our coaches scheduled team meetings three times a week. We would talk about baseball, the culture of the program, and whatever else was going on in our lives. While it doesn’t compare to seeing my teammates’ faces every day at the baseball field, it was the best we could do. It gave me a sense of the social interaction that we were not getting any more. 

I also tried to stay as active as possible. One facet was creating at-home workouts to keep my body fit even though I didn’t have access to the weights at my gym. It sucked but, I started running and doing more cardio-based exercises.  Another distraction for me was turning to baseball. Just playing catch with my brother or hitting in the cage for an hour made such a huge difference in my mood. Baseball has always been my mental release, so I called on it now more than ever, even though my playing career was essentially over. 

Even with these releases, it still felt so different. Instead of our senior day being on beautiful Fox Field with all of our teammates and the seniors’ families, we had a live stream video on YouTube. It’s moments like this that really made me think about the memories we lost. I had been looking forward to this moment since I hugged the previous seniors goodbye in 2019. It’s a moment that I know was so special to not only them but the teammates that had been around them for one, two, or three years. The 2020 seniors didn’t get that experience.

In the end, taking into account factors beyond baseball, I decided to not take my fifth year. I knew 2020 was going to be my final year. I was proud of the impact I had on the Lynchburg baseball program and the impact it had on me. Even if I had the option to attend graduate school and play a fifth year somewhere else, I wouldn’t want to play anywhere than Lynchburg.

I lost these memories and my college playing career is over, but my love for baseball still continues to grow through the time at home. I’ve come to realize that the next stage in my baseball career is coaching. I remain passionate about baseball and I want to share and develop that passion in others. I learned so much through my four-ish years playing collegiate baseball that I would love to share with players who are willing to learn and improve their skills. As things hopefully start to go back to “normal,” I hope that all my fellow seniors and teammates find a positive out of this shortened season that can help be motivated to continue their baseball journey. Everything happens for a reason, so it’s our job to find something positive out of this situation.

If there was one thing that college baseball has taught me, it was how important the mental side of athletics was to success. When you get to college, there are at least twice as many teammates compared to high school fighting for the same 9 positions and no matter how hard you work or how well you perform, some things just are not going to work out. These struggles could hinder the success of an athlete at this level if they just focus on the failure and think it’s their fault when, in reality, it might not be.

The major key to not letting those setbacks negatively affect you is just focusing on “controlling what you can control.” When you face failure, it’s so easy to get caught up in the statistics, the depth chart, or whatever reason you tell yourself why the coach isn’t playing you. You will never find success by dwelling on negatives that you don’t have complete control over.

By focusing on “controlling what you can control,” you can create a more positive mindset that can help build confidence and eventually increase your success. It’s ridiculous how much of the actual sport of baseball is out of our control. In the instance of a pitcher, he only has control until he releases the ball and after that, anything could happen. By ignoring what could negatively affect you, you can change your thought process to be more intrinsic.

For example, you throw a perfect fastball on the black knee-high away, but the batter puts a good swing on it and drives it off the right-field fence for a double. It’s really easy to get frustrated by the result and let the double negatively affect your confidence going into the next batter. However, what you don’t realize is that you just executed your pitch to the best of your ability and the batter just beat it. The pitch being hit has nothing to do with your ability to execute, so at that moment it’s important to realize that you succeeded in controlling what you can control, which is the pitch being released and put in the right spot.

This “control what you can control” mindset also works at improving your performance outside of a game. Being hard-working, showing effort, and having a good attitude are all attributes that you have complete control over no matter what is going on around you. These attributes are vital in improving your own skills, being the best teammate, and helping achieve the goals of the group. No coach has ever said “this kids work ethic is too over the top” or “he’s giving too much effort.”

Overall, the “control what you can control” mindset can help you create a more positive outlook on your performance. Baseball is such a fast and reactive sport that by the time you start having negative thoughts, you’re already a second behind everybody else. By focusing on just controlling what you can control, your mind will stay put on the task at hand, which allows you to build the confidence you need to play this game to the best of your ability.