![\"Parkland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DSC3137-e1773703522189.jpg\")
Parkland grad Sean Superka starts at first base for Moravian. (Elliot Schott\/Moravian University)<\/p>\nThe first three times the Moravian University baseball team played or practiced outside this season, it faced teams ranked among NCAA Division III\u2019s top five nationally at the time.<\/p>\n
Three losses that came by a combined 59-6 margin caused the Greyhounds to re-examine their preparation and mindset.<\/p>\n
Three weeks later, Moravian owns a 7-5 record and improved confidence. The Greyhounds went 7-2 on their spring trip to Auburndale, Florida, last week, scoring 10-plus runs six times.<\/p>\n
Senior first baseman Sean Superka, a Parkland High School graduate, said players and coaches used the three weeks between their opening three games and their trip to Florida for a mental reset. They revamped practice routines to incorporate more fun.<\/p>\n
The changes included a move to warming up by playing dodgeball. It\u2019s an idea Moravian coach Doug Coe took from Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson. One caveat for the Greyhounds is they have to throw with their non-dominant arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball\u2019s a really mentally heavy game,\u201d Superka said by phone Monday. \u201cObviously if you\u2019re struggling at the plate or on the mound, you want to just keep working at it and beat yourself up about it. So we play a little dodgeball or do a little fun active warmup.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the hitting side, we\u2019ve definitely taken a step forward with our hitting progressions,\u201d he added. \u201cWe spent 10-15 minutes warming up before. Now it\u2019s more of a longer, 30-minute warmup. We added a couple of more hitting stations. And pitchers as well have done a lot more mental-game work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coe has been a driving force in Moravian\u2019s revamped preparation. He\u2019s pursuing a master\u2019s degree in the school\u2019s sports psychology program. He\u2019s incorporating items covered in his classes to Moravian\u2019s practices and pregame routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just to have them reflect a little bit and realize that there\u2019s more to this game than throwing, catching and hitting,\u201d Coe said. \u201cI think some of that is helping too, because it\u2019s framing their mind in a way that they have full control over it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t put a quantitative number on it to say that that\u2019s why we\u2019ve turned a corner here or things have kind of changed, but I\u2019d like to think that all of those play a little bit of a role in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parkland grad Sean Superka starts at first base for Moravian. (Elliot Schott\/Moravian University)<\/p>\n
Superka is a believer. He received limited playing time over his first three seasons, producing 10 hits, five doubles and nine RBIs in 35 games (55 at-bats).<\/p>\n
Superka already has 10 hits, four doubles and eight RBIs in 12 games (all starts) this season.<\/p>\n
He also has been hit by eight pitches, a point of emphasis for the Greyhounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to adapt to the mindset that our lineup is one living organism, and if one of the nine guys is pulling away from us, we can\u2019t function as a team,\u201d Superka said. \u201cI think that was part of our issue before. We had a lot of guys trying to do too much.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to lead the country in hit-by-pitches and doubles. Right now, we have a lot of hit-by-pitches [43]. So, we\u2019re just trying to get to the mental side of the game where, if you can get on base and cause trouble, it\u2019s a lot harder [for your opponent] to field it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Superka and Coe want to carry Moravian\u2019s success in Florida into Landmark Conference play.<\/p>\n
The Greyhounds hadn\u2019t been outside at all before they played Kean, then No. 4 in the country, on Feb. 10. They managed one outside practice in the three weeks between playing a Feb. 14 doubleheader against Salisbury, then No. 5 in the country, and traveling to Florida.<\/p>\n
Moravian already has a Landmark Conference series win under its belt. It ended its trip to Florida by taking 2-of-3 games against Juniata. It resumes conference play with a Saturday doubleheader at Wilkes.<\/p>\n
The Greyhounds know adversity will likely come during conference play. They feel better-equipped to handle challenges thanks to their revamped routines.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these guys are really embracing it, and it\u2019s helping,\u201d Coe said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to keep trying to build and trying to give these guys as many tools as they can to be successful on the field and off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short hops: DeSales capped its spring-break trip to Port Charlotte, Florida, by opening MAC Freedom Conference play with two wins over Stevens. Graduate student Owen Fischl (Whitehall) went 3-for-8 with one run, one RBI and one stolen base in the series. \u2026 Kutztown junior Bo Barthol (Parkland) went 3-for-6 with three runs, one double, one triple, three walks, and two RBIs in a Saturday sweep of Clarion. He has a 1.058 OPS in 13 games for the Golden Bears (7-6 overall), who start PSAC East play Friday against Shippensburg.<\/p>\n
Stephen Miller is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first three times the Moravian University baseball team played or practiced outside this season, it faced teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,2300,726,432],"class_list":["post-141707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-college-sports","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}