Wooster Baseball vs. La Roche: Postgame Comments by Coach Aaron Swick

The Wooster Fighting Scots baseball team is off to a fantastic start this season. After seven games, they're 5-2 and are averaging just over 9 runs per contest. In my preseason interview with Coach Aaron Swick, he shared that improving the offense this year would be a key to the teams success. So far, so good! What's even more impressive is that the Scots best hitter from last year, Ryan Kramer, has been nursing an injury (contusion) and hasn't played in the last three games. Yet, the Scots offense continues to roll.

 
Yesterday, Wooster hit 4 home runs on their way to a 14-4 victory over La Roche. After the game, I had a chance to chat with Coach Swick. Below is a transcript of that interview. The Scots play four games this weekend in Indiana before returning home next week for four more games.

 
JW: The offense is on fire. What do you attribute that to? What are you seeing? 18 hits today.

 
Coach Swick: Yeah, Coach Perez does an awesome job of getting those guys prepared. We've been working really hard on having good plans and making good decisions in the strike zone and then getting our best swing off. And then the other portion I would say is the live pitching portion has been consistently in that routine of seeing guys regularly. Early on, usually there are pitcher's duels because you're kind of used to different backdrops and different arms and stuff like that, but now that we've made those adjustments faster, it's not surprising that we're doing a good job because I think we have good hitters.

 
JW: How's Ryan Kramer doing? Can you give me a progress report on him?

 
Coach Swick: Yeah, he's doing well. He's moving around fine. There's potential for him to be healthy in a couple days, which would be great.

JW: Maybe back in action some time on the road trip?

Coach Swick: Yeah, we're thinking long-term obviously. Just making sure that he can sustain the rest of the season. But there's no structural or ligament issues or anything like that.

 
JW: I know this doesn't pertain to this game, but I know Jack Spring has kind of struggled on the mound here at the start. How can he get back on track?

Coach Swick: We've had some conversations about his stuff. He's just got to minimize extra pitches. I think the first weekend down in Atlanta, he had good stuff and just got hit a little bit. This last weekend wasn't his best stuff, but he's a seasoned guy and expected to bounce back. And I still think he has great potential for us on the mound.

JW: A two-homer day for Noah Lindberg today. What do you see as the key to his power and success at the plate? 

Coach Swick: I mean, he's just a special player, and he sees pitches really well, and he can hit the ball to all fields. So, it's just a matter of getting him 10, 15, 20 at-bats to get comfortable and kind of see what happens. So, yeah, he has potential. 

JW: You're 5-2 heading into this road trip coming up. Tell me some expectations and things you're thinking as you head out to Indiana. 

Coach Swick: We're playing two good teams. I'm excited about the opportunity to keep playing, playing in a nice ballpark. I think the important part is just growing. Obviously, we want to keep building up in terms of getting ready for the conference, but every day is an opportunity to learn and grow and get better. That's where the games gives us a chance. We can play as many people as we did today all the time. Those guys get opportunities. The fun thing about this weekend will be four games in two days. We'll get to see guys pitch and put them in situations where they have a good time and make some good plays and see who we have. Because that's ultimately who you want to be at the end of the season. So give those guys some opportunities now so we can figure out who we're going to be later.

Be sure to follow me on X @CLEBoxscoreBeat for Fighting Scots in-game updates and other coverage.