With the first game right around the corner, the Whitworth Pirates are expecting to see big success as they kick off the 2025 baseball season.
The team experienced a taste of success last year as they finished third in the regular season standings of the Northwest Conference (NWC), following a series of last-place finishes. This year, the team wants to build off of that success, with the big goal of going to the national tournament in Eastlake, Ohio.
Their 28-14 record in the 2024 season caught the attention of preseason polls, as the Pirates were ranked second in the NWC 2025 preseason power rankings by the NWC baseball podcast, right behind Linfield.
In regard to the NWC championships, the team is aiming for the trophy, and coaches are doing everything they can to motivate their players. “They’re very supportive,” explained sophomore outfielder Luke Bents. “They want us to succeed as much as we can and be the best versions of ourselves.”
“This is the most talented team that I’ve been on for sure,” explained fifth-year senior captain and outfielder Aidan Morrison. This year, CJ Perry, the team’s head coach, recruited 12 freshmen and 13 transfers to the 2025 roster of 45 players.
Morrison has watched the team develop as they continue to build on their success each season. He attributes a lot of that success to the coaching staff, especially assistant coach Cash Ulrich, who focuses a lot on the mental health aspect of baseball.
Ulrich joined the staff in 2024, serving as the team’s mental game coordinator. “[Ulrich] had a huge role in shifting our team from literally last in the conference to a winning team again,” explained Morrison. “I was coming off of a couple [of] pretty rough years too, so I felt like he had a lot of impact on me.”
The team strives for perseverance, and “[the coaches] do a good job of emphasizing rolling through the punches and working through whatever you have to,” explained Morrison.
Morrison and the other captains on the team have the goal of bringing the team close together as they believe that close teams win games. “We all know we’re really talented, but half of the team is brand new, so we want to bring the team together,” explained Morrison. The captains have led practices and have organized “get-togethers” since the start of the school year in September, whether it’s hitting work or playing pickup basketball in the Whitworth University Recreation Center (U-REC).
