In the midst of hockey and basketball teams in stretch runs late in their seasons, the UND baseball season is already in full swing.

But the season has not started out as players and coaches would have hoped as the team has yet to claim a victory.

“I think after these first eight games, I think everybody sees now that we’re playing a tough schedule,” UND Coach Jeff Dodson said. “We’re going into a tougher league, and they know that they have to perform a little bit better.”

Through eight games in the Western Athletics Conference, North Dakota is 0-8 with losses that range from close games to absolute blowouts.

At this point last year, the Green and White were at a respectable 5-2-1, while winning some close games.

While there has been a lot of bad to start things off, there are many silver linings for this team.

Ryan Reese is hitting .304 and leads the teams with seven hits. He also is tied for first on the team with three RBI’s. Also in the pitching department, freshman Zach Muckenhirn is catching the coaching staff’s eye.

“The biggest thing we’ve seen out of Zach is the competitive side of things,” Dodson said. “He has really performed well. A lot of the guys are taking notice with him and he has earned a spot in the conference rotation this weekend, which is a big step with some of the guys we have coming back.”

While Muckenhirn has not won a game in his two starts, the freshmen has pitched well, only giving up three earned runs to go along with a team leading 11 strikeouts and a 2.31 ERA.

Even though UND has not won a game, it still has yet to play a conference game.

Returning pitchers Alex Twenge and Andrew Thome, who led the team in starts last year, haven’t had the same success this year. So far this season, Twenge is 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA. Thome also is struggling, along with the rest of the rotation. Thome is also 0-2 in his two starts and sports a 7.15 ERA.

The team has a combined 5.48 ERA, giving up 51 runs and letting opponents bat .266.

The pitching rotation cannot be held for all the blame, though.

The batters are not producing at a high level. Jeff Campbell who led the team last year in RBI’s, is not producing what he was last season. Through the first eight games, he has batted .172 and only earned one RBI.

The team’s batting average is .178, and it is not driving in runs when it needs to. The team has only scored 15 runs on the season at 1.87 a game.

Through the bad though, the confidence is still high with WAC play right around the corner.

The Green and White will travel to Orem, Utah, to start off the WAC season against Utah Valley.

Even though UND sits last in the standings, Utah Valley is not much better off, going 4-12 to start off the season. The coaches and players know that, and are excited about a new start to the season.

“I think guys are really amped up to go in this weekend, and to play, and they’re excited to get started,” Dodson said.  “It is going to be very beneficial for us to get off to a good start with conference play in Utah Valley.”

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].