UNCW Baseball: Seniors discuss return, adjustments and aspirations

Four Seahawk seniors returning to finish their careers on the field

The four seniors who decided to return for one more season took center stage of UNCW during Monday’s media day, joined by CAA Preseason Player of the Year Landen Roupp, All-CAA pick Noah Bridges, redshirt sophomore Matt Suggs and redshirt freshman Trevor Marsh.

Among the veterans, there was a common theme in why they decided to return: they simply weren’t ready to walk away with a meeting ending their college baseball careers last March.

Those seniors, mixing in with talented youngsters, have the Seahawks poised to make another run at a conference championship, and perhaps with this club’s depth, make a breakthrough in an NCAA regional.

Here’s what the players had to say:

Cole Weiss on player development

I think that just goes to us as players, just kind of buying into the process, buying into the culture that’s been building over years, way before any of us got here. I think that kind of just shows you how we go about our business, day-in and day-out, trying to get better every single day.

I’m always trying to get bigger, faster, strong through every single year, trying to continue to grow as a player on and off the field to help our team win as many games as possible.

Luke Gesell on returning

I just wanted to play baseball, honestly, is the easy way to put it.

I told Coach Hood the first time he called me and we talked about it, that my goal was to get signed and that’s just been a dream of mine and I told him if that didn’t happen, if I didn’t have that opportunity, I wanted to come back and I wanted to be a part of what I think can be the best team we’ve ever had here.

Ever since March 11, I think was the day, it didn’t really hit me that my career could have been over. Then, you know, the next couple weeks, next couple months it was hitting me, then Coach Hood gave me a call and he said, ‘We’d love you back if you don’t get picked up,’ so I was appreciative of that. It was never a question of whether I wanted to come back.

Weiss on the decision to return

We wanted to play baseball and I don’t think any of us were very content with how that ended. Like Coach Hood said, we had nine seniors, some of the guy we’ve been here, I’ve been with for four years and that’s how their baseball careers ended. I just wasn’t — me personally — wasn’t OK with saying my college baseball career ended like that. I would like to go out on my terms, how I want it to go. It was kind of a blessing to be able to come back and do it all over again, one more year with these guys.

Breydan Gorham on his decision to come back

Of course there’s a time that kind of feels unreal, and I think when we often go through adversity, we often forget other people are going through it as well. There was a point in time where it felt like it was just happening to us, but after assessing the situation and talking to the other older guys … We had four or five other guys feel like they had other options they couldn’t turn down and we respect them for that.

Just talking to the rest of the older guys that had the chance to come back, just to go off what Cole said, we kind of wanted to go out on our own terms. Last year, I don’t think was anything any of us would have expected. After talking to the rest of the guys and assessing the situation, we agreed to come back and give it another run.

Weiss on how the team is adjusting to COVID protocols

It’s definitely not easy. It’s taken a lot of getting used to throughout the fall. Something we’d do every day, go in get early work, stay late — we just cant do that anymore. Especially throughout the fall, you had a set time you could come in, you had a set time you had to leave. It’s still kind of that way now. There’s a little more leeway in what we can do with us having team practice starting and us being able to be out there a little bit more together, but throughout the fall, it was tough — especially, I would say, that first month of the year. Most of our freshman, we didn’t meet until three, 3 1/2 weeks into the year, so that was definitely something nobody is used to and definitely took a little getting used to.

Roupp on going into the season without normal preparation

It’s definitely going to be hard with experienced hitters come back. You have guys that you pitched against last year, new guys you haven’t seen or haven’t seen you. You’ve just got to stick with what we’ve all learned and I think we should be fine with that. Our rotation and our bullpen, I think we’re going to be pretty good.

Catcher Matt Suggs on what stands out about the pitching staff

I think versatility. I think we have a lot of different arm-slot guys that are just going to be very crucial in attacking hitters and keeping them on their toes. Also, we have our older guys coming back which is very nice and then also we have some pretty solid young guys that you usually don’t see that. I think we’re going to have some freshmen that really standout and really help us, not just on the starting end aspect of it, but also in the bullpen. I like how we’re going to be able to move with things and attack hitters.

Marsh on his personal improvement

I tried to improve on baserunning and picking up pitchers in the balk move because I haven’t seen a lot of really good balk moves. Me as a player, I just like getting on base and letting my teammates move me, and I feel like if I do my job as a teammate, my other teammates will do their jobs as well.

Noah Bridges on outfield depth and talent

We really have a lot of talented outfielders and just being able to watch each other move and learn from each other, and then Trevor come in, he’s really talented and makes me work harder; I’ve really got to work my best. I teach him as much as I can and he teaches me at the same time.

Weiss on adjusting how the Seahawks do things

I think we’re having to find new ways. As Coach Hood said earlier, we really haven’t had any team practice days. Every day that we’ve had good weather, we’ve scrimmaged. Just making sure we’re coming in every day in our two separate groups so far before practice started, just coming in and making sure we’re getting our work in, getting quality work in and staying on task. I think that’s been our biggest thing so far: just making sure we’re staying on task without the whole team together at one time.

Zach Bridges on his view of the team

Every day in practice I look at these guys, I’m like, ‘Man, we’re a really talented group.’ You just have a whole new appreciation after everybody lost a season last year. It’s really exciting to look at these guys work hard every day and just get after it. Everybody just wants to play somebody else besides each other now, and I think we’re just ready for VCU and every other game after that.

Noah Bridges on where he focused his improvement

Just increased contact, batting the ball. Me and Coach Hood have really been working on me understanding my role and that’s just getting on base as much as I can and eliminating the strikeouts.

Gorham on concerns regarding a COVID outbreak

I don’t think we try to worry about that. It’s just more making sure we take care of the little things and making sure off the field we’re doing the right things, as Coach Hood reminds us often. We feel like if we continue to just stay sharp and be aware of what we’re doing off the field as well as on the field, and we just take it as it comes and we go from there.

Weiss on not having fans at games this season

I think that definitely plays a role. It definitely gives the team energy when you have that big crowd and the big hit, and the crowd goes wild. I think this year with not having a big crowd, we’re going to have to find it within ourselves to continue to bring energy every single day to the field. No matter how the game is going, just staying positive, keeping it up in the dugout. We’re going to have some guys in the stands, they’re just going to have to stay in the game, stay locked in and create our own energy.

Gorham on whether having no fans compares to summer ball

I think we’ve often said throughout the scrimmages, it’s kind of been like glorified summer ball a bit. We have guys sitting in the bleachers and feeling a little weird with the protocols, but like Cole said, if we can just stay focused and stay with our guys, I think we can still find ways to bring the energy every day.

Weiss on if fans are able to return later in the season for the CAA Championship

Brooks field will be electric. That’s all I’m going to say — electric.

Noah Bridges on the potential return of fans

I think it will mean a lot to us as players, but at the same time, it’ll mean more to our families and our fans — for all the support they give us, to finally see us at the end.

Gorham on if anything has changed in the one-plus year under Hood

Not really — I would like to say, of course, there’s little difference. Coach Hood really is a player’s coach. He takes into consideration ideas and thoughts that we have, whether it be on the field and off the field, and he always tries to let us voice our opinions whenever the opportunity is necessary.

Of course, we miss Coach Scalf — you can’t really get better than that — but I think he left the program in good hands, because we really like Coach Hood as our head coach.

Gesell on Hood

He’s a player’s coach and it’s been awesome playing under him as well as Coach Scalf. I haven’t really seen much difference; he’s just leading this program, trying to get to the next level.

Weiss on the transition to Hood

Piggybacking off those two, I think baseball-wise, not a lot has changed. Our culture is still the same; Coach Hood has been here for 20 years, he was under Scalf for a longtime. Baseball-wise, really nothing has changed; we’re still going out there every day, trying to win as many games as possible.

The only thing I can think of, Coach Hood might be a little more outspoken. He’ll speak his mind a little more than Coach Scalf will; you can ask any of his players, they’ll tell you that. It’s definitely a good thing. He’s a player’s coach, he’s going to go out there and put the best lineup together, no matter if you’ve been here for four or five years or if you’re brand-new freshman. Whoever’s going to come out there and give it their all, give us the best chance to win, that’s who he’s going to put out there.

Weiss on the more regional schedule for 2021

I think it just goes to show how strong college baseball is in North Carolina. A lot of people want to go look in Florida or go to California, to the West Coast, but North Carolina is one of the strongest baseball states in the country. A lot of our scheduling is regional this year, but to be honest, it hasn’t changed that much — we’re playing a lot of the same teams.

We might not have that big trip that we always do, wherever that may be … I think it just shows everybody how good baseball is in North Carolina.