As University of Charleston baseball coach Andrew Wright entered his second season at the helm of the program, he wasn't entirely sure what to expect.
His first year saw the Golden Eagles struggle at times, winning just 16 games, and they entered 2017 with a roster made up heavily of freshmen and sophomores.
But after not having a win streak last more than three games since 2011, UC has jumped out to a great start - thanks in large part to the current youth movement taking place within the program.
"We're really young, but we have enough experience in the right spots to win a lot of baseball games," Wright said. "We're ready to come out and surprise people with the improvements we've made. Some of the guys we counted on last year are in bigger roles now. It's really exciting to see how they're coming together."
Heading into this weekend's doubleheaders against Mountain East Conference foes Urbana and Notre Dame College, the Golden Eagles sat at 12-6 overall, thanks in part to an eight-game winning streak from Feb. 25 to March 10. The team is No. 5 in the Atlantic region in the most recent D2BaseballNews.com poll.
A big reason for that success is the strides that the underclassmen and other newcomers have made. Four of UC's top six hitters are sophomores, including Nick Wilson, who is among the nation's leaders in batting average.
Wilson has recorded multiple hits in nine games this season. Through the games of March 19, Wilson was fifth in Division II with a .537 average.
He has also provided some power into the middle of the lineup as the Golden Eagles have seen their numbers skyrocketing early in the season. After hitting just eight home runs as a team all of last season, Charleston already has 11 in 2017. Wilson, fellow sophomore Jack Brunetti, graduate transfer Lee Carneal and junior Tristan Fields all have two home runs so far this year.
Wright said that some of the growing pains the team had to go through a year ago have helped them this season. Some of the players have gotten used to playing big roles on the team at such an early stage in their careers.
"We've got a really strong group of sophomores and they had to play through that inexperience last year, but you can tell they're much better off now because of that," Wright said. "These are guys we're building around who are primed to have great careers here. That's the kind of stuff you look for from a leadership standpoint as they find their way into those roles and learn when to speak up.
"When you don't have a lot of juniors and seniors, it's on them to take it upon themselves to step up like that."
The Golden Eagles have momentum in their corner in a way they have not in quite some time. UC was No. 2 in the conference in batting average and in ERA entering the weekend and is one of just five MEC teams with a shutout so far this year and is fourth in runs scored.
The biggest thing they have preached since before the season started was consistency, and now the Golden Eagles prepare for the tough challenge of continuing that level of play through the MEC slate.
"We're looking to build consistency [in the early games]," Wright said. "We know what we're physically capable of doing, but we know that there are going to be days where you show up with guys who are going to look like they were just playing high school baseball last year.
"As players, they have to walk that journey together with their teammates, and I think when it starts to click, it's really going to take off."