After losing to Abbeville Monday, Pike Liberal Arts baseball head coach Allen Ponder has focused on keeping his team focused and energetic going into their matchup against Glenwood.

After falling to Abbeville 9-10 Monday, the Patriots traveled to Escambia Tuesday and brought home a 12-1 and a 12-2 win, and Ponder said the team had done a complete 180 from Monday’s contest.

“The enthusiasm level was much higher, and the intensity level was much higher,” Ponder said for the team’s game against Escambia Tuesday. “The area games when we’re winding down our season, it’s easy to keep that level up. We did a good job manufacturing runs, and that’s encouraging getting into the end of the season and into playoffs.”

Ponder said the team knew going into their match up against Glenwood that they would have to play “clean baseball,” as Ponder would call it, and be able to compete mentally with a fundamentally-strong team.

“Today is big from a mental standpoint, because it’s a team that we hope to see down the line,” Ponder said. “I feel like they’ll be there. They are a very polished, very fundamental baseball team. They’ve been playing good ball all year long. For us, we just want to go in there and compete, because mentally we’ll know we can compete and win down the road when we see them in playoffs.”

In order to get ahead of the ball for their game against Glenwood, Ponder had the team do situational drills on the field where they were able to see any game situation come to life and be able to talk through the strategy the team would take with them on the road.

“We don’t do that normally,” Ponder said. “Normally, we start off with some basic defense, some bunt defense your first and third. We’ll start off with our fundamental stuff, but we did something a little different today and that’s mainly based on a lot of what Glenwood does. If they think you’re falling asleep, they’ll lay down a bunt at any time.”

The Patriots will face off against the Glenwood Gators away with the game beginning at 3:30 p.m., and Ponder said the team was going into the game with a positive attitude.

“We’re upbeat right now,” Ponder said. “We’re excited for the end of the season and looking forward to it with an understanding that as we continue to progress, as we continue to get better in the areas that we’ve been struggling in, then we’re going to be a tough team to beat. As long as we understand that, and we continue to get better in those areas, then I feel like we can have a very strong finish to the season.”