By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
Normally at this time, the Fort Hays State baseball and softball teams would be gearing up for the final month of their regular season and the track and field team would be working on improving their marks in an effort to qualify for the national championships. Instead the ballfields and the track are silent due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Tiger baseball and softball teams were just starting MIAA play and the track and field team was getting ready for their first outdoor meet of the season when the NCAA canceled all spring sports.
Jerod Goodale’s Tiger baseball team found out their season was coming to an end in the middle of a home doubleheader with No. 2 Central Missouri.
“I started getting a little bit worried the night before when I saw the Ivy League canceled the rest of their season,” Goodale said. “I just didn’t think it would happen that quick. In between a doubleheader, you find out this is it. It was a lot to process for the players, the coaches, the parents — for everybody.”
The FHSU softball team was in Claremore, Okla., and had wrapped up a doubleheader with No. 17 Rogers State when they got word it was the last they would play this season.
“It was just so abrupt,” said head softball coach Adrian Pilkington. “It was something we were kind of talking about as coaches. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be this abrupt and extensive.”
All if the athletic teams at Fort Hays State have been affected one way or another by the shutdown, but those that compete in the spring have an added element to deal with. The NCAA has ruled that spring sports student-athletes will be granted an additional season of eligibility, so that means determining who is returning and who is not and balancing that with their incoming recruiting class.
Goodale had only six seniors on his roster and he said it won’t be as big of a problem for him. Goodale, who is in his second year as head coach at FHSU, has talked to some of his coaching colleagues who are dealing with a large senior class opting to return as well as a large incoming recruiting class that was set to replace them.
Through all of this, Goodale feels it’s the high school seniors that will suffer.
“It’s awful timing for them,” Goodale said of the high school seniors. “There’s going to be a lot of guys that probably don’t end up getting a chance to play college baseball.”
Of the six seniors on the FHSU roster, three are taking advantage of the additional year and will be back next season, two are not coming back and one is still deciding.
“I think the junior colleges will benefit the most from it,” Goodale said. “I think you’ll see the best product of college baseball in all levels this next year with all of those guys coming back.”
Most FHSU softball seniors to return
It’s a little different situation for Fort Hays State softball coach Adrian Pilkington, who had seven seniors on her 19-player roster this spring. Pilkington had only signed three recruits for 2021, so when six of her seniors decided to take advantage of the extra season, it wasn’t a problem.
“That part ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise for us,” Pilkington said. “Those kids coming back we’re welcoming back with open arms. Some of these seniors coming back actually fill some of the voids we were needing to replace with recruits.”
Pilkington also feels the extra year granted by the NCAA will have a trickle-down effect to the high school level, including the current junior class set to graduate in 2021.
“For those kids within our program, if they do take a year of relief outside of seniors, we’re looking to push back our recruiting needs,” Pilkington said. “We’ve just yet to see the implications of it.”
Track and field a bigger beast
Head track and field coach Jason McCullough has a bigger roster than baseball and softball, with 88 student-athletes on his men’s and women’s roster — 18 seniors among them. McCullough expects some to take advantage of the extra year but a good number who won’t, especially those who already had jobs lined up following graduation.
“I always encourage their academics to come first,” McCullough said. “If they have a good job waiting for them or a good opportunity waiting for them this year, that’s something I encourage them to take.”
McCullough added that for many seniors, returning means seeking another major or starting post-graduate education.
“The big challenge is balancing the scholarships from year to year. We expect certain athletes to fall off of scholarships when we bring new athletes on,” he said.
Cover photo courtesy FHSU Athletics