Railer Baseball Diary Week Three: Dead Bats, Ejected Coaches Plague Lincoln

[April 11, 2016]  By Benjamin Yount
 
LINCOLN – The Lincoln Railsplitters suffered through hail, opposing pitchers, and a game full of dead bats by the time they faced their greatest indignity over the weekend.

“I did have bad body language,” Coach Pat hake admitted after being tossed from Lincoln's game against Limestone Friday. “I said 'Wow' and I kinda threw myself to the right. The ump saw it and he threw me out.”

Hake's ejection for arguing balls and strikes came after a frustrating game where Lincoln once again lost, but more concerning to Hake, his team once again didn't hit.

“It really boils down to, are we going to hit or not?” Hake said.

Lincoln is about a third of the way through the 2016 season, they've played 11 of their 35 games.
 

Senior Cooper Hake says the team is just now settling in, and settling into its identity.

“We need to be hitting better, we all know that,” Hake said. “We're too mental, we get into our heads.”

Coach Hake says he's pleased with Lincoln's pitching and the team's defense, but he is quick to say a lack of offense makes any shortcoming in the field much more dangerous.

“Even on the bad days, Coop had one bad inning (and) Garrett I didn't think pitched well, but when you look up there's only three runs on the board,” Hake said of his stable of pitchers. “But right now those things look huge because we don't score.”

And it may not be any easier for Lincoln going forward.

The Railers return to the diamond Tuesday, though without Hake per IHSA rules.

Lincoln will face Lanphier and Springfield High this week, with games against an undefeated Mahomet Seymour team on the horizon.

“It'll be a big test,” Hake said. “It'll be a big test of our depth, particularly our pitching.”