LAURINBURG — J.R. Polak has faced numerous breaking balls throughout his collegiate baseball career.
But nothing could have prepared Polak and his teammates on the St. Andrews baseball team for the nasty curveball they received in the form of a notice from the NAIA last month: The rest of the one-month-old season had been cancelled due to growing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Knights weren’t blindsided by that announcement; many other leagues on all levels around the world had taken a similar route, and some of the players figured it was only a matter of time before the NAIA made its decision. But knowing that didn’t take away the sting of losing a large chunk of the season.
“Everyone was pretty shocked,” Polak said. “It happened so quick, with everything getting canceled.”
For Polak and the team’s 10 other seniors, the announcement hit even harder. For several days, those seniors wondered if their collegiate baseball careers had come to a disappointing conclusion.
“That instantly shot through my mind, hoping to get a year back,” Polak said.
Their concerns were alleviated when it was announced that athletes on spring sports teams this year would not lose a year of eligibility, so seniors would have the option of coming back next year.
To date, Six of St. Andrews’ 11 seniors have committed to return to the program next year, and a couple more could join them in the near future.
“It was a no-brainer decision for me,” said senior Davis O’Brien, the Knights’ left-handed ace on the mound.
“I was already planning on coming back for a fifth year anyways,” O’Brien added. “Before the virus took over, it was going to be in a coaching role. Once I found out were were getting a year of eligibility back it made the decision that much easier.”
As tough as dealing with the pandemic has been, knowing that many of their seniors are set to return has given the Knights something to look forward to.
“It’s huge for us,” head coach Andy Fox said.
For O’Brien, having another year of eligibility means he has more time to settle “unfinished business.” He also has a chance to build on what was an extraordinary start to his senior season; O’Brien’s first four starts were complete-game shutouts.
“It was definitely frustrating from a personal standpoint because I had gotten off to such good start on the season,” O’Brien said. “But as far as the team goes, this gives us another chance to restart and get another crack at what we were trying to accomplish as a team.”
The new normal
St. Andrews students are still allowed to reside on campus, although all classes are being held online. Several baseball players opted to stay on or near campus, which means they can still get individual workouts in on the Knight’ home field.
But situations and resources vary. Many of the Knights traveled back to their hometowns in the wake of the pandemic.
“We don’t have access to weight rooms,” Fox said “The guys on my roster, they can’t use the gyms in the states they live in. We’ve been telling them to get what you can done on your own.”
Fox said with no baseball games or team workouts on the calendar, he wants his players to focus their extra time on academics.
“This has been a really good time for guys to focus on schoolwork and all of that,” Fox said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been doing, focusing on their grades.”
Fox said he’ll look to get some of his players back in action if summer collegiate wood bat leagues, like the Coastal Plain League, are able to operate normally in the months to come.
Another area Fox and his staff are continuing to work on is recruiting. He said many high school seniors had already signed to play at St. Andrews, and the team is staying in contact with others players they’re interested in.
“It’s just something we’re going to have to work through,” Fox said. “We’ve been honest with our recruits about it, so everyone knows what’s going on. It’s going to be the same mentality — new guys are coming in, and returners coming back. It hasn’t put us in a bind or anything like that so far.”
Looking to the future
Plenty of questions about the future of college sports remain unanswered, but the Knights are itching for another chance to get back on the diamond.
After wrapping up the shortened 2019-20 season with a 12-13 record, they know what they have to work on to achieve their goals.
“Hopefully we can take the good and learn from the bad,” Polak said. “… A lot of seniors on other teams are going to be coming back too, so there’s going to be tougher competition next year. We know we have a lot of work to do to be able to compete at an even higher level.”
