For Hawks catcher Tyrus Bath, losing in the finals was life-changing.
“Honestly, I still think about the loss every day,” Bath said
“Winning is everything to me. It fuels that fire in me to get up on these cold early winter mornings to run and workout to get better every day,” he said. “After that game I said to myself, I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that we are the team celebrating next season.”
The Hawks look set to have an impactful off-season as the team looks to recover from a tough loss in the finals five months ago. Humber had a stellar season, finishing with a 11-3 record before losing to St. Clair Saints in the OCAA Gold Medal game.
Head coach Troy Black took the loss as just another block on the road and hopes the team can learn from the loss.
“I’m hoping that everyone will take the loss as motivation,” he said. “It just means we have work to do. Our goal is to be the last team standing at the end.
“So until that’s the case we’ve got to stay building,” Black said.
Some, like Hawks pitcher Eric Alcaraz, used it as motivation. He said the loss motivates him to start the day early and workout with passion so he and the team can live up to the Humber name.
“It definitely hurts a lot,” he said. “When you play for a team like Humber, you’re expected to win and to not come out on top really sucks.
“But if any team can bounce back from this, It’s the group of men we have in our locker room,” Alcaraz said.
The team has had daily practices and Bath said they are all looking to improve aspects of their game to come back next season and win a championship.
“Off-season training has been ramping up. Our coaching staff has done a great job at setting us up with progress and helping us continue to develop and take that next step as a player and a team,” Bath said.
The Hawks are also looking to recover from losing key player Dennis Dei Baning, who was the league MVP last season.
“You can’t replace a guy like Dennis,” Alcaraz said. “He’s literally Mr. Humber and the greatest baseball player I have ever had the chance to play with as well as an even better person.
“We have an awesome core of young guys who now have a year under their belt who are only going to get better though,” he said.
The recruitment process is ongoing for the coaching staff as they are always looking for more talent to add to the Hawks’ already young roster.
“We’re always recruiting,” Black said.
“Sometimes it’s less actively talking to and selling players in the program and more observing and identifying team needs, but the recruiting process is a yearlong one,” he said. “We’re definitely looking to add some infield depth and some bats to go along with the solid pitching staff we have coming back.”