'Overwatch' team finishes top eight in dying esport

BEN NGUYEN Managing Editor

The “Overwatch” team finished the top eight in the last Overwatch Collegiate Championship of “Overwatch 1,” with the team facing the unique situation of trying to stay competitive in a game that is soon to die.

nor is it likely to receive some sequel version that supersedes it. “Overwatch,” however, is receiving a sequel later this year, and hasn’t received a major content update for years, leading to a dwindling player base and lower quality of competitive play. For Salinas and the rest of the team, this hurts the motivation to continue playing.

Fresh off a series sweep against Sul Ross State, the Comet baseball squad continues to build momentum in their march towards the ASC Championship Tournament and their ultimate title defense.

The Comets are ranked no. 13 nationally with a 20-6 record, remaining just a few games behind the first-place East Texas Baptist University in the ASC. After winning their first 10 games, the Comets faced a rough stretch of conference play, hitting a four game losing streak with a loss versus Mary Hardin-Baylor and a three game loss to McMurray. Despite this, Shewmake maintains full faith in the quality in his dugout and understands the various nuisances that come with the game of baseball.

“McMurray got the breaks we didn’t, and that’s what happens in baseball at times. And then we go to Alpine (Sul Ross State) and those balls we hit start falling and some of the breaks went our way. Sometimes baseball is funny that way, you hit it hard and it goes at somebody, and somedays it doesn’t, but we were fortunate to have a effective weekend with our bats in our last series,” Shewmake said.

The previous series against Sul Ross State saw the bats flying for the Comets, scoring a combined 49 runs and 55 hits across the three-game series. It remained an important comeback series win, and one that Shewmake hopes the team will continue to build off of in the last stretch of the regular season.

“It was big, you know, when you come off after losing four in a row. We needed to right the ship and we were able to do that. We were able to pitch well enough and obviously hit well enough when we score that many runs,” Shewmake said.

The stats also speak to how well-balanced this ball club is. Collectively, the Comets lead the ASC conference in batting average (.356), lowest pitching team ERA (4.74), and are tied for second in fielding percentage. In short, these numbers showcase how the Comets are not overreliant on either their hitting or pitching staffs, making them a hard to beat team moving forward.

Despite this success and the positive clubhouse environment, it can also remain challenging for the Comets to manage the overall