Friday night signified a special home game for the Lancers, as the Junior Lancer program had the opportunity to take the field with the varsity team in full uniform. The earliests spectators, many of whom scrambled to save seats in awareness of the coming crowd, were beaten to the diamond only by the players, who had been preparing as soon as school released. Prior to the 5:30 start-time, all of the middle school players and their coaches were welcomed onto the field and stood at attention in single file, as the home commentators commemorated the young players and gave recognition to their mentors. Everyone then hunkered down in the bleachers in anticipation of the coming bout between the Lancers and their opponents, the Menomonee Falls Phoenix.
At the announcer’s cue, the BC baseball squad rolled out of home dugout to the roaring cheers of both the regulars and future players.
The Lancers held their own for several innings against the Phoenix thanks to strong pitching and a fly ball to the right-center fence by Jaxon Clayton, resulting in a run. In spite of their impressive playing, BC baseball unfortunately succumbed to a string of fielding errors in the midgame culminating in a disappointing loss.
However, it was made clear to everyone in attendance that the future of Lancer baseball is exceedingly bright. Each of the Jr. Lancers that cheered the varsity squad on had the privilege of observing a team that, aside from its strong batting and fielding performances, demonstrated profound maturity and unbending leadership inside and outside of the game. The upstanding character of each player exemplifies a longtime tradition of maintaining the winning Lancer attitude in all generations of BC athletics.
“I’m feeling pretty confident about the amount of guys we had out there today and the talent that could be coming up,” said Junior Peyton Lenell regarding the young players that were present. “We’ve got a lot of really good coaching and a really good community that these guys can grow into. It was exciting to see them all today and also think about how we were kids once, and how much we’ve grown and how much they will too”.
This fantastic relationship between the current and younger, bright-eyed players was even obvious from the stands. Joe Bitter, father of Vince and Ben Bitter, both current BC baseball players, expressed this sentiment best: “You know, we always had this vision of [Vince & Ben] as leaders and we kept that as they started playing baseball, and now it’s a dream come true to see them beat the statistics and odds to be great. We’re extremely proud of them and glad that a lot of the younger guys can look up to them.”
Indeed, BC baseball receives abundant spirit from parents and fans, and will likely continue to receive overwhelming support as it nears the postseason. The first round of regionals begins on June 3rd, and despite their loss tonight, it is clear that the team is amply prepared for their coming playoffs: “[the game] was pretty exciting, and obviously we’re pretty pumped to get Vince back and really coming together as a team. We’ve finally shaken off all of the early season jitters and I’m pretty excited for what we can do.”
The anticipation is mutual between the Lancers and all of their fans, particularly those that aspire for a varsity spot once they reach high school, succeeding the players that set the bar for them.
