BROOKINGS — It’s been an up and down start to the season for the Brookings baseball team, but the Bobcats are hoping to get better every day.

Brookings has gone 2-4 in the first six games of the season. The Bobcats split doubleheaders with Yankton and Sioux Falls Lincoln and then were swept by the Bucks in a doubleheader this past weekend. 

Brookings head coach Carter Roach said he’s used the first six games to figure out his lineup and thinks it’s been a good start despite the record.

“There’s a lot of new faces in the lineup, but it’s been good. I think some question marks of who we were going to be and who was going to play were answered. They weren’t completely answered, but I think we have a good idea and the kids played well,” Roach said.

Roach added that he wants his team to be sound defensively and it starts with making the routine plays.

“As always, I’d like to pride ourselves on defense and pitching. I’m really excited about our defense. It’s something we preach about everyday. We need to be able to make the routine plays and then making the great ones will just be a plus,” Roach said.

Brookings' offense struggled in the first three games of the season as the Bobcats scored just four runs. The Bobcats have found some success at the plate over the past three games as they’ve scored 20 runs. 

Roach said he likes what the top half of his lineup has to offer.

“We have some kids that are coming up and this may be their first season of being contributors on the varsity team, but they’ve had success at younger ages. … There are two guys that really had good springs last year and then good junior seasons in Jase Bauer and Tane Friedrich. … Those two anchor the middle of the lineup. Guys like Talon Hyde, Tyson Antonen and Jay Harris will be the ones that will support those guys in the middle and Tre Christopherson can set up the table as the lead off guy,” Roach said. 

The Bobcat pitching staff is anchored by senior Tyson Antonen. Roach said it’s nice to have a senior that he can lean on but he still needs to shape the rest of the staff.

“We return senior Tyson Antonen, who logged a bunch of innings for us last summer. He also pitched well last spring as a junior but then had an injury later in the spring that sidelined him and didn’t get back until the middle of June, and he was from then on. He’s going to be our ace. The big question mark will be who is going to fill in those second, third and fourth starting spots and we need guys to come in out of the bullpen too. Those are going to be question marks with who those guys are going to be, but it’s really nice to have a senior leader and ace of staff in Antonen,” Roach said.

Brookings went 13-14 in the spring last season and lost in a regional at home to Sioux Falls Roosevelt. Roach said with the amount of new faces on the varsity team this year, he is first focused on getting better and then his team can focus on hosting a regional and making a run at the State Tournament.

“I think a huge topic is just getting better everyday. Whether it’s a practice or a game, finding a way to get better. We always talk about, no matter what season it is because we carry over into the summer, we want to be playing our best baseball come May. Every season our goal is to be a top eight seed and host a super regional at Bob Shelden Field and then the second goal is to make the State Tournament. After that, it doesn’t matter what State Tournament it is, you just have to get there. You get to the State Tournament and anything can happen,” Roach said.