Royals baseball finishes season with eyes on the next one
By Davie Wong, Sports Editor
Coming into the season, the Royals baseball team hoped to find their redemption in the stringent NWAC League. However, halfway through the season, it became about salvaging their year. Ultimately, the team would finish 2–22 in the North Conference. However, despite the disappointing season, the team still had a number of accomplishments to be proud of.
Senior Rodney Gilbert finished the year leading the team in batting average at .306. He had 22 hits and 10 RBIs on the year. His nine runs were the second best on the team. Playing in a backup role, rookie Sean Donnelly also had a fantastic season. In 10 games, the rookie swung a .308 batting average, with 8 hits and 2 runs. Infielder Grant Okawa led the team in runs with 10, and in stolen bases with 3. He’ll be looked upon as a runner for the Royals in the next season as he returns for his senior year.
In the pitching department, it was an all right year for the Royals. Several pitchers made themselves vital to the team during the season. Rookie Keegan Kwong ripped it up in the pitching circle, pitching from a relief position. His 3.86 ERA was the team’s highest, and overall pretty good in the league. Fellow rookie, Thomas Vincent was also prolific in the pitching circle, putting up a 4.42 ERA throughout the season. Veteran Ethan Fox pitched gems throughout the season, throwing a 4.41 ERA to finish his time with the Royals.
Although the team is losing Rodney Gilbert and Ethan Fox next year, the team has a bountiful number of rookies to carry their legacy onwards. Already the team has begun signing Canadian talents to bolster their team, with the latest being a foursome from the North Shore twins.
On the back of the tough season, the future has to be emphasized. As the saying goes, there’s nowhere but up to go from here. The Royals can look forward to a pressure-less season for next year as the only expectation is that they do better than this year. But in the tough NWAC North Division, that can hardly be set as a solid. If they do find success in the next season, the team can look back upon this year as a building block season. After all, you can only learn if you lose, and the Royals did a lot of learning this year.
