Arriving at the midway point in the season, the Washington baseball team is moving through its schedule like a batter who  just smashed a ball deep over the left fielder’s head and has rounded second with his sight set on going the distance.

Under the direction of first-year coach Matt Burnett, Washington holds a 6-7 (4-3) record at midseason and seem to be improving with each game as it strides for its first postseason birth in three years.

The start of the season was challenging for both the Washington players and Burnett, as the team had to adjust to a new coach while the coach continued to get familiar with his roster. Now that the Pam Pack is halfway into the season, the feeling out process appears to be complete and the team is starting to create its identity.

“I think our team is learning about who we are, and I think at this point in the season we are really starting to scratch the surface of who we are going to be as a baseball team,” Burnett said. “Over the course of the last week-and-a-half we have played our best baseball.”

During the past few years the Pam Pack has seen several coaches come and go for various reasons, but Burnett has stated all along that he is here for the long haul.

The Pack skipper is trying establish Washington as perennial Coastal Conference contender and the first step in doing that is by making sure his team plays fundamentally sound.

“We are a team that really worked hard early on trying to form an identity of being a defensive baseball team,” Burnett said. “I’m the type of coach that tries to build baseball teams that don’t beat ourselves in the field and that makes the routine plays. We want to take outs that (opponents) give us. We will figure out a way to score runs, but as long as we can stop (opponents) from scoring runs it puts us in the best position.”

Washington’s defense has stepped up lately as it has committed only one error in the past three games.

The Pam Pack pitching staff has been a perfect compliment to its emerging defense and Burnett said that the work done by his hurlers has surpassed his expectations.

“Our entire pitching staff has been a pleasant surprise,” Burnett said. “From Hatters (Brooks) our No. 1 to Michael (Hollis) our No. 2 starter on down to Jake Skirko, Avery Woolard and Will Phelps. All of those guys have contributed greatly on the mound and have done a good job. They have sat back and thrown strikes for us and put us in a position where we can try and win some ball games.”

That staff has worked well with freshman catcher Brandon Cherry, one of two freshman that regularly start for the Pack.

“We play two freshmen. Brandon Cherry is behind the plate, and it can be a lot to ask of a ninth-grader to get behind the plate, but he has come in and down a great job for us. We consider our catcher and extension of the pitching staff and he has been a big part of our guys having success on the mound,” Burnett said. “Then, at second base we have Isiah Taylor who early on had a couple of hiccups defensively but he has settled down and played absolutely brilliant defensively.”

Taylor has teamed up with WDN all-area senior shortstop Jake Duke to sure up the middle infield.

“With (Taylor) and Jake Duke in the middle, we as a coaching staff have just sat back and marveled at how well those guys have really jelled together,” Burnett said.

Burnett praised Duke not only for his play, but his leadership.

“You can’t say enough about a kid like Jake Duke,” Burnett said. “He has been through it all. He is a four-year starter for the varsity team and he has such a good understanding of how to play the game. He’s a coach’s dream. Him and the other seniors like Hatters, I wish I had them for more than one year.”

Duke’s presence is not only felt in the clubhouse, but also at the plate where he, along with Will Swain, David McIver and Austin Mitchell, have helped make the Pam Pack lineup a versatile and dangerous one.

Swain, who Burnett praised for the way he handled his transition from second base to center field, has missed a few games due to a knee injury but returned to the lineup on Tuesday night as a DH and went 2-for-3 with a home run to help the Pack overpower Havelock 10-8. Brooks also homered for Washington, while Mitchell went 2-4 with three RBIs and Duke finished 2-for-4 and drove in two runs.

With a healthy Swain back in the lineup, the Pam Pack will begin the second half of its season looking to make the playoffs for the first time in three years. In order to clinch a playoff birth Washington must place fifth or better in the eight-team Coastal Conference. If not, then it must hope for a wild card entry.

The key for Washington to make the postseason is for it to bring the same effort to the diamond on a daily basis.

“What we have to do is be consistent. I tell our kids everyday at practice that being consistent is the difference between good baseball teams and so-so baseball teams,” Burnett said. “Being consistent is a difficult thing to do in anything … but it’s something that we have to strive for everyday. As long as we are consistent than it doesn’t matter that we are looking across the field and seeing Conley or West Carteret or South Central. As long as we go out and play baseball the way we want to play it than I think everything will work out in our favor.”