Winfield baseball is in a championship state of mind. The Generals are back in the state tournament and looking for their fourth state title and first in more than 20 years.
The Generals are playing their best baseball at the right time. The program's philosophy is the previous day can't dictate the next day.
"We are 11-1 in our last twelve, so I think we are really playing well at the end of the season and that is key," Winfield baseball head coach Will Isaacs said.
The Generals eliminated the defending two-time state champions in Logan, but this group realizes the work is far from over.
"We just got to play every game pitch by pitch," Winfield senior Maddox Shafer said. "Win as many pitches as possible. Generate as much energy as we can throughout every inning and at the end of the day, we just want to win every single game by one run. That's all that matters."
That team-first mentality has been key to the Generals' success.
"We don't care about our individual stats or accolades or anything, we just want that ring, so no matter what, senior all the way down to freshman we'll put the bunt down or hit a homerun, who knows what we'll do. We just want to win," senior Dylan Kuhl said.
Senior Brycen Brown said the team is hungry for a state championship.
"Some teams just don't want to win and won't do what they are told but like us we are a real strong team, and we realize what we got to do to win, and we are just chasing that ring," he said.
In order to win you have to score runs. Once this team crosses home plate the Generals enter a state of euphoria, and it becomes contagious.
"Every time we score a run, the whole dugout floods out," Kuhl said. "We celebrate it like it's a touchdown almost. We all go crazy. It's just the next step to getting our win."
Seeing the Winfield softball team capture a state title has lit a fire under the baseball team.
"It gave us some momentum," Brown said. "It'd be nice to have both baseball and softball win both a ring but it's like a chaser almost. We want to chase what they did, but also want to match what they did because it is something special."
To be a champion you have to think like a champion. And this team mirrors the 1979 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Everything from clinging to the words of a hall of famer to the celebration music.
"Willie Stargell, he said you play baseball, you don't work baseball," Isaacs said. "We want to win, and we are serious about it when we cross the lines but still you got to play and enjoy it and I think that allows you to play better.
"We play 'We are family' after games. If we are fortunate enough to win Friday somebody will turn it on, and we'll all say we together when we go to we and that's from Willie Stargell and when I was young and they won the World Series I thought that was fabulous and so yes We are family is a part of what we do."