The Wichita State baseball team is back in action this season with their first practice of the year last Wednesday.

Originally scheduled to take place sooner, the first practice was a hot one, but second-year head coach Todd Butler said the hot start was worth the wait.

“I wanted our pitchers to have time to get their arms in shape and be ready, instead of jumping right into it,” Butler said. “I like the weather right now — it was hot today with 90 degrees — but I think next week it’ll be 75.”

For the team, the heat may not be as much of a concern as normal due to their newly shaven heads for Stand Up For Cancer, a national initiative for cancer research.

Several team members recently visited children battling cancer at Wesley Medical Center.

“Some of the guys went to the hospital and met a sweet girl named Hannah, and she just kind of touched all their lives,” junior Daniel Kihle said. “At the end, she wondered why they all had hair and she didn’t, so all the guys took their hats off and they let her shave their heads.”

Kihle let a boy named Elijah shave his head.

“We think what we have is hard,” Kihle said. “We’re sweating, and all the guys are working hard, but it’s nothing compared to what they’re doing.”

Butler also shaved his head along with the rest of his team to show his support for the Stand Up For Cancer cause.

“My wife and daughters laugh every morning when they see me,” he said, “but it’s for a great cause, and I’m glad our guys got out there as a team, beyond baseball.”

The baseball team’s fall season consists mostly of practices and scrimmages. The team will play a World Series on Oct. 31.

Fundamentals, he said, will be this season’s focus.

“[We can accomplish] picks, rundowns, bunt defenses, teaching how to bunt, just the way we want to play,” he said. “I think we might have some guys with some speed this year, [so] try to teach the base running. Its kind of one day at a time.”

Junior pitcher and first baseman Sam Hilliard is a transfer from Crowder College in Neosho, Mo. Hilliard said his first Division I practice took him by surprise, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready for more.

“Coming from junior college, I thought I’d be used to [the practice], but the heat got to me today,” Hilliard said after practice Wednesday. “I’m going to have to go home and hydrate for tomorrow.”

Hilliard has been met with an abundance of veteran leadership and guidance after only being with WSU for a month, he said.

“I definitely sense the leadership from the returners,” Hilliard said. “There’s a lot of good leadership on the team. Their message is, when you’re tired, to ‘keep working hard and keep grinding.’ I can’t wait.”

Butler said he wants to work on “being a tough team” this year and noticed during his first season with the Shockers that getting behind late in the game seemed to be a weak point for the team.

“Coming from behind late in the game we weren’t good at all,” Butler said. “We need to be able to put runs up late in the game.”