Elgin Community College’s Men’s Baseball team is bouncing back from an early season struggle, winning nine out of the last 11 games.

Starting on April 21, the Spartans have been on a roll beating teams back and forth, bouncing back to a 20-18 record so far this season.

With only a couple days left until the regular season is over, the Spartans chances look very bright for the post season.

Head Coach Mike Angelo believes that this team has made a total 180 turn since the beginning of the year.

“Well, I think that we are starting to play really well, right now, I think that we are playing some of our best baseball of the year. We have about a week left till the post season starts. Guys are really starting to hit the ball real well, our pitching is getting really consistent and our defense has been the one thing that has been consistent this whole year,” Angelo said.

They are currently 11-7 in conference play, which is something that they hope to get better at in the next couple of games.

Talking about the struggles at the beginning of the season Angelo discussed the teams they played against.

“We lost some games early that were winnable but we were trying to find out what we were doing and who was going to be where, but I’m happy with the way we are playing right now,” Angelo said.

Angelo gave a simple answer as to what has changed since their losses.

“Guys just getting comfortable, we were playing a lot of guys who played a lot of games, we had some pitchers that we had to move around into different roles and that seems to be helping out a lot,” Angelo said.

Another member of the team who talked about how the Spartans were doing was second year player, Pitcher Patrick McCabe.

“Last year, we had a lot of talent and we had a lot of talent that we had to replace and right now we are getting back on pace and we started to replace that talent and the bats are coming along great, so if we keep it up we should be looking good,” McCabe said.

He also talked about how last year’s games compared to this year.

“I’m not as pleased as I was with last year’s team, last year I had a pretty good year and this year I’m just not playing as good as last,” McCabe said.

Another player who discussed the team’s success this year was Catcher Dan Lenz.

“I think that we are doing really well, I think that we started out really slow but I think right now we are playing really solid baseball and were playing for each other and I like the way things are going,” Lenz said.

He then considered some of the strengths they have had as a team.

“As a team, our offense is something that is definitely a strength and our pitching is also something that is a plus,” Lenz said.