Hitting slumps in baseball happens. They happen to contemporary greats such as Albert Pujols and Dan Uggla as easily as they did to the icons of the sport’s past. Why they happen and how they are solved is as mysterious as the universe, but they do happen.

Batting slumps are a unique thing to baseball. Athletes of other sports can go through low points and rough patches, but it is nothing compared to the lonely feeling of being in the midst of a 0-12 stretch at the plate.

If a basketball player goes scoreless for a game or two he still feels like he is going to make the next shot he takes. If a quarterback goes a whole half without a completion he knows eventually one will come, but in baseball, hitting slumps can seem bottomless.

UNA infielder Bradley Noland said this has been a strange year for the Lions.

“I’ve never seen a whole team slump like we are doing right now,” Noland said. “It’s weird because it’s one through nine. It’s from the top to the bottom of the lineup.”

Noland said this season is starting off the complete opposite of how last season went for UNA.

“Last year we would score 12 or 14 runs and give up 11 and win the game,” Noland said. “This season our pitchers are busting their butts and pitching really well for us and we just can’t seem to score any runs.”

Baseball is also historically a game filled with superstitions and superstitious players. There have been stories of professional players who have done everything from changing their bats to not changing their undershirts for long stretches just to get out of a batting slump.

“I haven’t really heard of anything too strange on our team as far as trying to get out of this slump,” Noland said. “What I try and do is just go back to square one and get my swing as simple as I can.

“It’s important not to put too much pressure on yourself. Some people try and maybe get a bunt down or something like that, anything to just get a hit. The hardest hit to get when you’re in a slump is that first one,” Noland said.

UNA as a team is hitting a paltry .198 this season through 17 games, but Noland said the team is still “surprisingly upbeat” and confident things can turn around.

“Hitting in baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sports,” Noland said. “There are so many moving parts and one little thing can throw it all off. But we know, as a team, that all we need is one good weekend to turn things around.”

Noland said head coach Mike Keehn has addressed the lack of hitting and the whole team is staying together instead of letting sniping or arguing take over.

“This slump isn’t just one or two people, it’s the whole team,” Noland said. “We have all bought into coach’s approach and he has had success with it. We are just trying to focus on making sure every swing has a purpose and that every swing is a quality swing.”

UNA hosts a three-game series against Valdosta State University March 8 and 9.

Editor’s note: Matt Wilson has served as the baseball beat reporter for The Flor-Ala, covering the 2014 baseball season.