Many students are approaching crunch time as final exams near. For the baseball team, it has been crunch time since the beginning of the season.

The Bison began the season with one thing in mind: an appearance in the 2016 OHSAA Division III State Tournament.

“We [wanted] to work together as a team and not only focus on our personal stats so that we [could] really become a unit and make a real playoff run,” Junior pitcher Aden Stern said.

The team, led by Head Coach Todd Butler, planned on picking up a fourth Chagrin Valley Conference championship since 2012 on the way to yet another dominant season.

With two four-year letter winners in Shawn May and Charles Colson leading the team, signs were pointing in the direction of a promising season.

And yet today, the Bison are not quite where they hoped to be. After two crucial losses to Perry, the team’s hopes of a CVC title faded away, along with their momentum.

The Bison currently sit at 13-10, a record that does not display the dominance that they hoped to achieve this season. However, junior pitcher/infielder Josh Bialosky claims that the record is a poor indication of this season’s successes.

“Every game we have lost we have had a chance of winning,” he said. “Many games were 0-0 through five or six innings or were one or two run games.”

On the other hand, this Bison team has many strengths. A deep pitching rotation led by May, Colson, Bialosky, and Stern has helped the Bison maintain a low earned-run average and has helped them stay in games in spite of poor offensive performances.

“Each pitcher has a skill set that gives us a chance to win in each game we play,” Stern said. “While we are 13-10, our pitching has definitely kept us in each of our games and it’s something that we are really proud of.”

In addition to some effective pitching, the Bison have benefited from key contributions from underclassmen, notably sophomores Ben Connor and Chris Reilly.

Connor and Reilly have been staples within the outfield and infield, respectively, for both their freshman and sophomore seasons. Both have seen time in the pitching rotation as well. The quick adjustment that these two players have made have proven vital for the Bison.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter about age, it matters about playing to the best of your abilities,” Connor said.

He explained how the chemistry within the team was positive, as the two seasons of varsity baseball have helped him learn to work well with his teammates.

This chemistry has shown directly on the field. Stern and Connor both remarked on how working together rather than focusing on personal statistics has helped the team win. The team has been prioritizing a team philosophy in order to make a playoff run.

This philosophy has been supported by the senior leadership from May and Colson. May, a Hiram College commit, and Colson, a Sinclair Community College commit, have been impacting the Bison since they played as freshmen in Spring 2013.  Since then, their performance and leadership skills have evolved immensely.

According to their teammates, May and Colson have been strong leaders.

“Whenever there’s a time of adversity, both seniors on the team seem to step up,” Connor said.

Bialosky concurred.

“They are great role models and give [the younger players] someone to look up to,” he said.

Ultimately, this senior leadership has helped the Bison make it to the playoffs.

Thanks to two runs batted in from Stern and a complete game from May, the Bison escaped with a narrow 3-2 win against Kirtland in the second round of the playoffs. That helped the third-seeded Bison advance to the district semifinals against the second-seeded Wickliffe.

The Bison beat Wickliffe 2-1 on April 14 and look to repeat this performance in the upcoming game. And as long as the Bison stick to the fundamentals they have played with throughout the season, it is looking quite optimistic.

The Bison take on Wickliffe in the district semifinals today at Lakewood High School at 4:30. Check in with The Beachcomber for updates.