The Bears have been preparing for the upcoming baseball season and their first time playing in the ASUN Conference by practicing hard and focusing on their goals. 

Nick Harlan took over the head coach position last season after serving as the associate head coach and pitching coach since 2013.

“I love UCA. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to stay here, very grateful,” Harlan said. He and his wife Lindsey are very involved with the baseball team.  

Lindsey Harlan is a UCA graduate who is very passionate about making a difference in young people’s lives. Their goal is to make a strong impact on the players as a family through the game of baseball. 

Harlan said that it’s exciting to be in a new conference, UCA hasn’t had a conference change since 2007, and it has been interesting watching how each sport steps up to new competitors. 

“It’s a good league, we have a tremendous amount of respect for the coaches and the programs in this league, so I think we’re looking forward to that,” Harlan said. 

The team’s main focus this season is on things they can control. 

“For us, we just try to place a high value on every day, so the objective for us is to just keep getting better every day,” Harlan said. 

There’s a sense of urgency as the first game against Missouri State approaches on Feb. 18. 

“We’re trying to get as many reps in as possible and live at-bats, trying to get our pitchers facing as many hitters as possible,” Harlan said. “The game demands urgency, and we want our guys to be prepared for that. We’re just training every day with the idea that we can get a little bit better so that when competition shows up, we’re prepared.”

At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily a win that Harlan is looking for but rather great teamwork, attitudes and effort. Going into the new conference, the objective is not only to show up and show out but to play the game at a highly competitive level. 

The team has established core values that Harlan said drive their decisions every day and hold them accountable.

Harlan said, “Respect, integrity, gratitude, humility and toughness, those are things that I think allow you to come out and consistently perform at a high level.”

Practice makes perfect, and good habits create consistency, this is how the Bears have been training over the last few months. 

Although they haven’t ever played most of the competitors in their conference, Harlan said their objective is to create a schedule of games that will allow them to play at a high level against strong players and teams. Keeping up with the competition and playing well is more important to the coach than the teams they play. 

“I don’t spend a lot of time comparing us to other people. I spend more time making sure that we’re playing the game the right way,” Harlan said. ​​The team is focused on mastering the fundamentals of the game, which Harlan thinks will put them in a position to win more games. 

The first home game of the season for the Bears is Friday, Feb. 18, in the three-game series against Missouri State University.