The baseball team wraps up their season as the school year comes to an end. With a record of 4-10 in the section and 6-11 for their overall season, the boys proved to have worked hard and improved from the previous year.

“We didn’t have the season we hoped for, but we improved from last year and hope to improve for next year and just keep getting better,” Freshman Jason Norman said.

Juniors Anthony Thompson and Brad Eckman both knocked it out of the park with a first home run of the season for Thompson and a second of the season for Eckman. The following day, Apr. 29, the team played a home game against Fort Cherry. Freedom defeated them with a score of 13-3. After coming off a strong win, the team was motivated to stay on their winning path in order to make it to playoffs.

“We started off strong, but towards the middle of the season we lost our fire. We picked it back up in the end and had a lot of close games,” Norman said.

For one player, the end of this season brings the final moments of being a member of the Freedom baseball team.

Senior Night was held on May 4 at the home game against New Brighton. Senior Matt Moeller, being the only senior on the team, walked with his parents down the side of the field and stood in front of his teammates. Then, he played his final home game as a bulldog.

The stakes were high for this game, because Freedom had to win it and the following one in order to earn a spot in playoffs. Many Freedom students were at the game to cheer on and support their peers. Unfortunately, a 6-5 loss meant Freedom was out of the running for playoffs. With playoffs no longer in range, the team will have to wait until next year for another try.

“We were very respectable and competitive this season. Five of our section games were losses by one run. Flip those games around and we might have been in playoffs, and possibly battling for the section crown,” Head Coach Dan O’Leary said.

Even though the season has now come to an end, many of the players are eagerly anticipating next year’s season. Many of the players will keep working on their skills during the summer and fall, playing in recreational leagues. Next year, seven of the players will be seniors and the team is hoping to be even stronger than they were this season.

The team is already beginning to think about what they need to do to better themselves for next season.

“I think for next year we just need to keep the intensity up the whole season because we have the skill to be a great team,” Norman said.