Athletes of the Week: Delta Baseball

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The Delta Panthers Baseball Team was an absolute buzzsaw in the month of April.

The Panthers blasted through their schedule going 8-0 since the first week of April. But it’s not just like they have been winning by barley scraping by. They have been bludgeoning their opponents, putting up a c 125 runs combined during that eight-game span.

“I think we finally go everybody moved around to the right positions. And then we just finally could swing the bat and just everything started clicking. And I think we just kind of got on a hot streak,” Senior Outfielder and Third Baseman Konnor Workman said.

“Every single day. Now we’ve been just focusing on hitting and we hit BP almost every single day. So I think just like getting all those extra reps from hitting just makes us start taking off,” Junior Second Baseman and Pitcher Rylan Bynum said.

But the Panthers haven’t just been red hot at the plate. They’ve also been excellent on the mound only allowing 12 combined runs over that win streak. With 75% of those runs coming in just one game. They’ve also put together four shutouts in that span. A lot of the success has to do with the Delta coaching staff experimenting with pitch varieties.

“They’ve been showing us different ways, different grips on the ball to our curveballs and sliders. And they showed us how to throw a two-seam (fastball). You know, your finger positions your different grip, get more tail on it. They’ve been helping us with using our legs more, get more velo on it,” Senior Pitcher and Centerfielder Braeden Sprout said.

“I before I had never thrown a slider. And this year, Coach taught me how to throw a slider,” Bynum said.

The Panthers actually just suffered their first loss since April 7 to an undefeated Coal Ridge team at a final of 6-5 putting their league record at 4-1 on the season.

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