Under first-year head coach, Lake Region State College baseball eyes strong season

Article by Sam Herder, Devils Lake Journals Sports, published April 1st, 2015.

First-year head coach Kyal Williams is bringing some fundamentals he learned at a four-year school to the Lake Region State College baseball team this season.

Williams, from Adelaide, South Australia, ran the hitting and defense at the University of Mary in Bismarck the last two years. Previously, he played college and professional baseball in the United States and Australia.

"I've tried to bring in what I've been taught over the years," Williams said. "It's nice going from a four year school and coming back here to see the difference. The guys have bought in really well. I've tried to teach them good approaches and all of them have taken it on board and you can see the difference. The averages are better. For me it's been fantastic."

The Royals are out to a 5-7 start with a spring trip to Arkansas for a bulk of those games. LRSC now begins its home schedule this weekend with four games against Dakota County Technical College with conference games to follow.

Still early in the season, the Royals have been sharp. They are batting .317 as a team with an on base percentage of .424. Defensively, LRSC has committed just 16 errors through 12 games.

"We've been able to get outside now to take some ground balls and fly balls so this weekend is looking promising," Williams said. "It will be a big task for us to see what our competition is. DCTC is usually a competitive team out of Minnesota. They're in our region, so it's good for us to see where we stand early on."

The 18-man roster has 12 freshman. But early contributions from the first-year players leaves a positive outlook as the season progresses.

LRSC's top two starting pitchers are freshman Ryan Clark from Montana and Cesar Bernal from Florida.

Clark has been the ace with an earned run average of 2.37 with three complete games in three starts for a 3-0 record. 

"Pitching is looking strong with our relievers starting to get their groove going," Williams said. "We have our starters with Ryan Clark and Cesar on the mound. We always know we'll get 5-6 innings with those two and that's always nice to have as coaches."

LRSC has 26 games remaining in the month of April before it begins postseason play.  The first six games of that stretch come at home. 

After the two doubleheaders this weekend against DCTC, the Royals host conference foe Bismarck State College in a doubleheader on Tuesday.

"It's going to be interesting to see how the team does being on their own," Williams said. "On the road we're all together and leave at the same time. This will be a bit different. But it will be nice being on our homefield and hopefully start on a winning record here."