NEW ULM — Nolan Drill said that his second season with the Upper Iowa University baseball team has gone well.

“From the first year it is just the comfortability factor,” Drill said. “You grow closer to your teammates and you understand the program more. And the friendships that I have made here with my teammates — from last year to this year, I have gained friends who will be friends after college. One of the biggest things is we are close as a team. And now I am not the freshman trying to fit in. You understand your part on the team and how you can bring your own self to the team.”

Drill said that the year of college baseball has helped him become more comfortable in the outfield for the Peacocks who are now 6-18 overall and 4-9 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference after a weekend sweep of Bemidji State.

“Last year when I showed up to school I was not expecting to play in the outside but they moved me out there because of my athleticism and because they felt I would benefit the team more there than playing corner infield.”

Drill said making the position adjustment was hard as well as adjusting to the level of D-II college baseball.

“The pace of the game and the consistency of the pitching. Hitters will hit no matter what level. In high school, every team has one or two guys who can pitch. But in college there are between 10-15 guys who were those guys in high school, so as a hitter, you need to be sharper and be more engaged in the whole game. In college you need to be on your ‘A’ game for every pitcher.”

Drill said that the start of this season for him so far has been up and down.

“Finding success is tough at the D-II level no matter if you are an everyday guy or a spot guy here and there, so this year it has still been a learning curve,” he said. “I think I have gotten better as a player and understanding the day-in, day-out routine. That sometimes throws me a curveball. And as a team we have been struggling this year. Our pitchers are doing well but we have struggled offensively. But we have started to come around.”

Drill, as others have said, is that college baseball is 24/7.

“I played three sports in high school, but now it is all baseball so it is more mental because of that. Some days you can over-think it and some freshmen do that. If you do not have success that day you need to flush it because there is a next day. Most of us have played baseball for 18-20 years so we know what we need to do.”

Drill said that he needs to continue to focus on hitting the ball hard and hitting line drives.

“I was popping up a lot and I need to do what I always have been doing and that is hitting line drives and focusing on the gaps. Keep a good mindset.”

And Drill will continue his baseball season after the Peacocks’ season is done this summer.

After playing college baseball last summer in the Expedition League in Grand Forks before coming back to play amateur baseball for Essig, Drill said that this summer he will play in the MINK League (Minnesota-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas) college league for Jefferson City, Missouri before coming back to play amateur ball here.

“Last year we played 50 games in Grand Forks after I played 40 games at Upper Iowa so that takes a toll on your body and mind,” Drill said. “But I enjoy it a lot and I met a lot of guys I would not have met otherwise. So I will play in Missouri until the end of July and then come back and play town ball here.”