After suffering through last year's 3-47 campaign, it would be understandable if the Lincoln University baseball team wanted to leave it in the past.
Instead, the Blue Tigers are drawing some inspiration from it.
"We talk about it a ton," Lincoln coach Mike DeMilia said. "In fact, we brought it up (Thursday) after practice. We can't hide from it, it was a bad year.
"... But even though it was rough, we learned a lot and got better as the year went on. We handled adversity, which showed in the fact that even though we lost our last game, we lost it in extra innings. We kept competing for 50 games.
"So we don't bring it up a ton, but we do talk about it. Starting (today), we have to put it behind us."
The Blue Tigers begin the season today with the first of a four-game, neutral-site series with Maryville University in Joplin. The teams play one game today, a doubleheader Saturday and a single game Sunday.
"We're ready to play," DeMilia said. "We're way more talented this year. How many more wins that means, I don't know, but we'll be more competitive."
The starting point for last year's struggles was obvious.
"Pitching, no doubt," said DeMilia, whose team had a 13.06 ERA in his first year as coach. "It set the tone for everything. There were games we got off to bad start and hitters started pressing and got our defense trying to do too much.
"... While the pitching is still not where it needs to be, we've got 12 guys that are listed as pitchers, so we've got more depth, and there are three or four who really stand out."
Leading that group is Zach Maskill, a transfer from Southwestern Community College.
"He throws in the upper 80s and has a good breaking ball - he's looked really good in the fall and preseason bullpens," DeMilia said.
Following him is last year's staff leader, Trevor Schnieders, who led the team in ERA, starts, innings pitched, complete games and strikeouts and tied for the lead in wins.
"He has an injured back, so he won't be pitching right away, but he will be huge for us when he gets healthy," DeMilia said.
Another returner is Tyler Roberts, while Cody Stegemann has transferred in from Missouri Valley College.
"Those four are the anchors of the starting rotation," DeMilia said.
Adding depth to that group is starting left fielder Kolton Clark, while Riley Crews, a transfer from Oklahoma Panhandle State, will field the closer's role to start. Daniel Castillo, who made just two pitching appearances while starting 48 games in center field last year, will also see time.
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association is switching from four-game series to three-game sets for the bulk of its series this year, with some mid-week single games. That will bring some interesting challenges to setting up a staff this time around.
"It's going to be unique," DeMilia said. "We'll have to kind of feel it out, because we've never done it before. What it allows us to do is maybe go to a three-man rotation at times if there's some distance between games - a Friday starter could pitch the following Wednesday."
It also means a shift from the middle two games in a four-game series being a doubleheader of just seven innings each.
"With barely any seven-inning games, it becomes important that you've got guys in pen you can trust, and I think we have that," DeMilia said.
Still, the conference schedule will feature a mid-week matchup that's now just one nine-inning game instead of two sevens, with another nine-inning meeting a few weeks later.
"From a budget standpoint, it may not be the best, because you will travel a lot more," DeMilia said. "Now, nine-inning single games, I'm excited about that, because baseball's supposed to be nine-inning games. But it will be kind of weird to travel to someplace like Bolivar and then come right back after one game. But we'll get used to it."
Lincoln's pitchers will be backed up by an offense that is looking to improve upon last year's team batting average of .235.
"We're definitely better with our hitting," DeMilia said. "I didn't get as many pitchers as I would have liked (in recruiting), but I think we took care of needs with position players."
Two key additions are the Walker twins, Jake and Jackson, who have transferred in from Missouri State to join older brother Dillon as Blue Tigers.
"Jake is hurt right now with an elbow injury, but he has a chance to be our starting shortstop when he returns, and Jackson is the starting catcher," DeMilia said. "Not only offensively, but defensively, the sky is the limit with the Walker boys."
Dillon Walker returns at second base after finishing second on the team in batting average (.315) and tying for third in RBI (16), and he's joined on the right side of the infield by first baseman Kaleb Davis, who led the Blue Tigers in average (.338), total bases (69), slugging percentage (.476) and on-base percentage (.436).
"Kaleb Davis had a great year last year ... and an unbelievable fall," DeMilia said.
Nick Lovell returns at shortstop, while third base is up for grabs between transfers Zach Anderson (Southwestern Community College) and Laban Petzoldt (Lincoln College).
"Either way we go, those guys can do some really good things," DeMilia said.
Joining Clark in the outfield are center fielder Jeffery Jackson, a transfer from Andrew College, and Mike Million, a freshman from C.B.C. High School.
"Kolton Clark really stood out in the fall and so far this spring - he can hit, lead off and really run," DeMilia said. "Jeffery Jackson is really fast - he swings it pretty well and can make plays - and the wild card is Mike Million. He can really play - he will start in right field and will also catch some."
Also likely to get some time in the outfield is returner Mason Price.
"He's like a 230-pound lumberback - he's going to swing and miss a lot, but he's going to hit some baseballs a long way," DeMilia said.
That would be a welcome addition to a team DeMilia said is built around speed and has much more competition for spots than last year.
"We didn't have enough guys looking over shoulder last year," he said. "Now we're two-deep at every position in the infield and have five guys in the outfield. Nobody has a job sewn up. ... Everybody is uncomfortable (about holding their job), in a good way. That's healthy."