The baseball team will take on Bloomington North in Sectional action next Wednesday. The Woodmen will look to win their first Sectional title under head coach Andy Bass.

Preparing for Sectionals for most athletes is no different than preparing for any other game. But for some, there is an added intent and focus during practices leading up to the game.

“For me personally it’s my first Sectional as a starter,” sophomore Ethan King, outfielder, said. “I was part of the team last year as a back up guy and got some good experience. That experience last year really helped me to know how I need to prepare for this year. Myself and the team as a whole need to focus on playing one game at a time and one inning at a time. Staying locked in will help us the most over anything else we work on.”

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Keeping loose and keeping good energy is important in a game full of highs and lows such as baseball. Successful teams understand that baseball is a game of failure, and everyone will have trials and tribulations.

“We need to keep our energy up,” King said. “We have a lot of energy in our dugout on what we call the ‘Bench Mob.’ In all of our close games we have won, the difference maker has been our bench honestly. We have guys on the bench that love the team, and they want us to be successful. They support us always and are the loudest dudes in the dugout. Our PO’s (pitcher onlys) have the most energy, and then they come in and close out our games and are just electric.”

The root of success for the Woodmen thus far has been the pitching and improved defense. The best arm out of the bullpen this season has a team leading 1.50 ERA and the starting pitcher, junior Micah Vessely, boasts an impressive 1.86 ERA.

“Our pitchers have put in a ton of work in the last year,” senior Noah Rollings, infielder, said. “Every single one of them takes what they do seriously and has built an awesome culture as a pitching staff. It’s really fun to watch them work, especially in close games that they find ways to keep us in.

Strong pitching and timely hitting will be key for the Woodmen in their match-up with the Cougars in Game 1 of Sectional 13.

“As long as we pitch well and can string hits together, we’re going to be just fine,” Rollings said. “We struggled early on this season with getting guys in after they got on base. Against Perry this year, we left something like ten guys on base in that game alone. That cannot happen if we want to beat (Bloomington) North.”

Bloomington North is a well rounded squad coming from Conference Indiana. The talented squad is highlighted with Class of 2024 Texas A&M commit Caden McCoy. McCoy is a LHP who was tabbed as a Top 10 prospect in the state, according to Perfect Game.

“If we see McCoy, it will definitely be a battle,” Vessely said. “I pitched at the Battle of Indiana with him, and he’s electric. He has a really good fastball and a dirty breaking ball. There’s no doubt he’s talented, but it isn’t anything we don’t see regularly in our conference schedule. Against Mooresville, we saw Division One guys both nights and a lefty similar to him against Martinsville.”

The team hopes to continue turning around the narrative of GHS baseball, something they have done this season having the best year a baseball team has had at GHS since the 2015 spring season.

“We already have had a better and improved season,” Vessely said. “We hope we can keep turning it around and win ourselves and this school a Sectional. I couldn’t tell you when we last won one here, but we want to be the first to do it in awhile. The guys are confident, and we expect to win.”

The Woodmen will face off with the Cougars next Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Mooresville.