In the dugout, there’s never a dull moment. After every crack of the bat, every caught ball and each home run, players radiate the same encouraging energy onto the field. Screaming louder than anyone in the bleachers, they are their own biggest fans. When a play is finished, they wait for the next ball to be pitched so they can begin their chants again.

Baseball can be an unpredictable sport with plenty of challenges in between the triumphs. To get one another through tough matches, players must find ways to boost each other’s spirits. The team is currently fighting its way through district games, and support from one another and their fans can be critical in keeping spirits high.

“We’re neck and neck with a lot of other teams right now,” Head Baseball Coach Tyler Farst said. “The district championship right now is wide open for anybody. Everybody’s got a couple of losses, nobody’s really running away with the lead. Looking forward, we’re going to continue to keep competing. We take it one week at a time.”

After an unexpected loss of 1-11 to Lake Travis on March 25 at their Corpus Christi tournament, the team had to come together to pick themselves up from the fall. Infielder and senior Colton Smith said players are good at being there for each other through these rough games.

“We came into the [Lake Travis] game too confident,” Smith said. “We still played our butts off, [but it] just wasn’t enough in the end. [Before we played Lake Travis] we did well; we were extremely focused the whole tournament. Everyone was playing super hard and playing for each other. Now, we’re on a comeback in district play.”

Right fielder and senior Tyler Clifton said after getting knocked down from the loss, the team was able to get right back up and come back stronger.

“[Losing to Lake Travis] was kind of like getting hit with reality,” Clifton said. “We had to look at what we did wrong, collaborate and improve. We’re [out on the field] every day for practice from five to six, working on everything baseball, which helps [us get better]. I think we’re going to make the playoffs and I’m excited for that.”

Tonight the team will play the Hayes Hawks at CPHS after beating them Tuesday night 5-0, and more district games will continue for a few weeks before playoff games begin.

“We still have a long way to go,” Farst said. “We’re not even halfway through district play yet. Obviously, our goal is always to win a district title and make playoffs, but it’s a challenge to get there. We’re taking one week at a time and can’t look too far ahead, because if we overlook one opponent they can surprise us and put us behind. Baseball is a sport of adversity; [there are] lots of ups and downs and lots of failures. We’ve definitely seen our fair share of adversity, [but] we’ve seen our fair share of successes as well. It’s a sport [where you have to] be able to deal with the highs and the lows.”

Encouraging talks with his players as well as working on their skills is how Farst helps his team prepare for games, and Smith said it’s beneficial to get those pep talks.

“Something our coach really stresses is [the saying] ‘so what, next pitch,’” Smith said. “[That means if you] make a mistake, don’t even worry about it, because you’ve got another pitch coming. You can’t let a play that you made a mistake on affect what you do in the next play. That’s really helped us to not let our errors affect our play coming up. We try to stay focused on that.”

Dance parties, rhyming battles and chants are a few ways the team supports one another through the good plays and the bad, with Smith leading many of the cheers.

“Most of the team thinks of me as the team hype man,” Smith said. “I also pray before the game for our whole team. I try to help the team bond together and I try to set an example for all the underclassmen that are on JV and varsity. We [also all] have pretty good chemistry. I think one of the things that we do that helps [build our connection to each other is that] we hang out together. We go play volleyball at Millburn and we do team dinners every week, especially during district play; we’ll go out to eat after games.”

According to Clifton, when new players make the varsity team, which is currently 4-3 in district, existing players welcome them by inviting them to hang out outside of practice and make an effort to develop friendships with them.

“[Our chemistry has] been around for a long time,” Clifton said. “This has always been a really close team. Every year we have new people coming in, and we build them into the chemistry we have. Really, it’s just trying to try to make friends with them. We’re all a big friend group and we’re always hanging out with each other outside of school. Doing that with the young guys is how we [incorporate them into our team dynamics].”

The relationship all the boys have together is fun to be a part of and witness, Farst said, along with the hard work they put in every day.

“[They have] lots of energy and like to have fun with each other,” Farst said. “They compete against each other in practices and they also like to get under the lights at games and compete there as well. They’re a great group of kids; they’ve got a great brotherhood. It’s just a really fun group of kids to be around every day.”