The UW-Whitewater baseball team remains undefeated after eight games. The Warhawks have maintained a No. 1 ranking through three weeks of the season as they approach their home-opener against Saint Mary’s (Minnesota) Wednesday, March 26.
Despite falling short to Misericordia University (Pennsylvania) in the 2024 NCAA Division III College World Series Championship, Whitewater entered this season with a No. 1 target on their back along with the pride and pressures that come with it.
Senior shortstop Darryl Jackson said that it is important for the Warhawks to leave the past in the past and focus on the present.
“Last year we had a really good year,” he said. “But, we can’t keep looking at last year and comparing ourselves to last year because comparison is the robber of joy … we just have to be happy with a win. Being number one, yeah there might be a little bit of pressure, but as my coach always says, ‘pressure makes diamonds.’”
The Warhawks are returning several key players to their 2025 lineup, including 2024 first team All-American Matt Scolan, 2024 third team All-American Eli Frank and 2024 fourth team All-American Andy Thies among others.
“I think it’s crucial for us to have so many leaders on this team. If you look at our team we’re pretty old this year … you can go down our entire starting nine and every one of them has leadership qualities.”
With their seasoned lineup and the fresh sting of falling just short of a national championship, Jackson said the 2025 Warhawk baseball team is striving to set ‘the gold standard’.
“Last year we fell short and that was the silver standard,” he said. “This year we want to go out and show our accountability, commitment, excellence and effort.”
Whitewater’s gold standard mantra is a way for the team to stay focused on a common goal throughout the year and pay extra attention to detail this season.
“With every rep that we take every time we step out on that field we just try to be as excellent as we can,” Jackson said. “We know that we can’t be perfect, but we try to get as close to perfecting our craft as we can.”
For Jackson, this season means even more given that it is his final season and he missed a decent portion of the 2024 season in late April due to an injury.
“This last season I’m just trying to focus on enjoying every second I have on this field,” he said. “Last year showed me that nothing is guaranteed, I’m not guaranteed to play a full season, I’m not guaranteed to stay healthy throughout the year.”
Jackson added that through a strong connection to his spiritual life he has been able to make a full recovery and is better off for it. Through his injury, he said, he developed a mental toughness that he will be able to apply to focusing on the moment and taking the season one game at a time.
“I’m a big believer in just playing the game and whatever the result is – is,” he said. “Right now we’re just focused on the journey and processes, not really on the end goal. Obviously, we really want to win a national championship, because we fell short, but last year needs to stay in the last year.”
