“Come get some!” is the battle cry the baseball team is rallying around this season.

Last season, the Spartan phrase “Molon labe” — which means “come and take them” — helped lead the team to the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.

“We break it down as ‘come get some,’ you know, just go out there and try to battle as hard as we can, every pitch, every out,” first baseman and outfielder Ryan Martin said.

This year, with only three returning players who saw playing time last year, they hope to rally around the phrase once more on their path to Grand Junction.

“Grand Junction is an experience that you can’t really speak about. You just kind of have to be there to experience it,” utility player Ali Banks said. “It’s just a big wow, the mountains and playing in the tournament, the energy that the fans bring in the stadium. These tight games, everybody’s on edge and wanting to win, so it’s a lot of competition. It’s really fun to be there.”

With a fresh crop of players coming in, the team still has a lot of work to do to rebuild the kind of chemistry last year’s team had.

“It’s hard to replicate what we had at the end of last year, just because we spent so much more time together. So we’ll see where we’re at by the end of the year,” Martin said.

“I think we’re in a really good spot,” third baseman Grayson Godbee said. “We’ve got a lot of great dudes, we get along well; we’re really starting to play better as a unit. I think we’ll figure out a lot in the next month, once we start playing games. But I like where we’re at.”

The excitement of a new season, even with all its trials and tribulations, is undeniable. Even knowing things will get tough, the players have a lot to look forward to.

“I would say the thing that I’m most excited about for this season is the journey that we get to go on,” Banks said. ”You know, trying to make our way back to Grand Junction, and hopefully win it all. Looking back on last year, I realize just how fun the season was even though it was long. We play a lot of games, but they go by so fast. So, you know, just enjoy the moment.”

While there is a lot of pressure on the players to achieve greatness, they never lose sight of the importance of hard work and dedication.

“The whole process here is actually a lot of fun,” Godbee said. “During the fall, we do CrossFit. A lot of people would say that sucks, but when you look back, the fall season here is amazing. We work really hard, but when you get through it, it makes you a better human, a better baseball player, for sure.”