Coming off a very successful tournament season, the Leopard baseball team is going through a rough patch as they have started of district play with three straight losses. Head baseball coach Jason Wilson commented on some things the team needs to improve on before their next outing against the Wylie Pirates on Thursday.

“We are getting in a bad habit of swinging and guessing at curve balls instead of hitting fastballs. This has led to bad at bats and way too many strikeouts,” Wilson said. “Pitchers have to eliminate walks and hit batters. Too many free bases given to other teams.”

Defense has also been an area the team needs to focus on.

“We have made errors at costly times so we need to have better focus on defense,” Wilson said.

According to Wilson, key players for the Leopards have been Andrew Keefer, Bailey Bennett, Jacob Parrott, CJ Vogel, Corey Roberts, Noah Mena, and Clayton Bilke. Keefer is leading the team in hits with 33 and is also leading the team with a batting average of .516. Bennett is leading the team in RBIs with 20, and Parrott is leading the team in home runs with four.

“Both Wylie and Mckinney are good teams,” Wilson said. “We have to play well to beat them. All district teams are playing to try and make the playoffs, so I expect them to play very hard which I believe we will as well.”

Although the last three games for the Leopards weren’t what the team expected, the Leopards are not letting the losing streak get to them.

“I think the past three games have brought us together,” senior CJ Vogel said. “We have been through a tough patch lately, and the team has really come together as one unit to seek a common goal which is making the playoffs.”