Tribunes ‘Sweepin’ down the plain’: Sardou finds the power of adjustments

With a headline paying tribute to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, a string of features chronicling Monroe Community College Baseball's trip to the 2026 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma. 

It was a matter of understanding the difference between hearing instructions and acting upon those guidelines. 

From the outside looking in, Michael Sardou's numbers at the plate during the 2025 season were acceptable. A .349 batting average with an on-base percentage of .478 had the first-year infielder among Monroe Community College's team leaders. 

Improving upon those numbers while producing in the three-hole, that was the next step for the former Churchville-Chili Saint. 

A step the Tribune staff wanted Sardou to make for his sophomore season. 

"As coaches, we have to be honest with our assessment and challenge our players," said MCC skipper Dave Brust. "We have been very honest with Mike in helping him understand where he needs to improve."

Sardou hit seventh in the batting order for the first two games of the 2026 season on the team's trip to Arizona. He spent the third game at sixth in the lineup. 

Five multi-hit performances in the Grand Canyon State earned a move to clean-up when the squad returned to New York in mid-March. He stayed in the fourth spot until April 9th when he was inserted in the three-hole. 

With the exception of two outings, he has stayed there, a stretch of 23 out of 25 games. 

And he has produced. 

In 2025, he had 11 extra-base hits - all doubles. 

Currently, Sardou's 11 triples leads all of NJCAA DII. That's just part of his 29 extra-base hits. 

"He wasn't given anything," Brust said. "He earned every bit of this. Once the bat exploded, in Arizona, it really never stopped." 

That Sardou occupied a spot in the lineup every day, though, wasn't guaranteed when Monroe opened practice after the semester break. 

"You gotta come back and win a spot," Brust said of the message that was delivered at the end of last season and again following fall workouts. 

"There was some stuff I had to work on for sure," said Sardou. "Last year in Arizona, I think I was like 2-for- 21. That was my first welcome to college baseball, and then the next was definitely the exit meeting." 

Three areas of improvement stood out to Sardou: getting backspin on the baseball off his bat, throwing across the infield with a four-seam and improving his foot speed. 

The matter of throwing across the infield was solved when Sardou switched positions. 

During his first year with MCC, he spent more time at third than anywhere else. 

"We weren't sure if he was gonna be at second, third or first," Brust said when considering the 2026 season. "He wasn't really an everyday guy when we were playing in the fall. He was scuffling a little bit. Towards the end, he really started turning the corner.

"His actions were a little more natural at second base. We just had to make some adjustments with his footwork and handling the baseball through the middle. His work ethic is good. He made those adjustments, and he improved."

There were still questions at the plate. Could he handle the responsibility of hitting in the top third of the order? 

"Last year, he showed signs of being a really good offensive player," said Brust. "But he needed to make some adjustments. His swing plane (bat path through the strike zone) was a little too negative, top-spinning balls too much. That was the big fix, and he was just swinging out of the zone. He could be a strikeout victim."

The work has paid dividends. 

His batting average has jumped more than100 points to .453. In 2026, he has struck out on 19 occasions in 177 plate appearances as compared to being retired 23 times on strikes in 135 trips to the plate a year ago. He has also increased his number of base on balls from 23 to 28. 

Sardou credits his 11 triples to his off-season training which included work at UR Medicine's Fitness Science. 

"I never really was much of a speed guy, but that's definitely changed a lot this year. It's taken a big jump, for sure."

Sardou has made a habit of facing reality instead of avoiding it during his time at MCC. Now that work has put him into position for the possibility of playing baseball at a four-year college/university. 

"You go from being in high school, thinking you're the man, like you're one of the best players on the team, probably a multi-sport athlete, probably one of the best players on a bunch of your teams. Then you get to college and every single other kid is the same as you. That first year was definitely a big adjustment. I'm very happy for it. It changed me. And it turned me into a better baseball player."

The first order of business, though, comes this weekend. 

MCC (37-8/No. 24 NJCAA DII) will be the No. 10 seed when it opens the World Series against No. 7 Iowa Central Community College (50-10/Region 11). 

The Tribunes have won five straight postseason games heading into the weekend's action. 

Sardou credits the bond among teammates for Monroe's success. 

"Our team culture this year, it's much different. I mean, we get on each other, but we also have fun. We joke around. It's a really fun group of guys and a lot of us have played together for a long time. 

"There are five of us who played for the Brewers, travel organization together. We have four Churchville guys. We've known each other our whole lives, and we click. We click with all the other guys. We click with the Canadians, click with the out-of-town guys. Like, it all just meshes together. We are a good group." 

A 10 AM (CST) first pitch is scheduled on Saturday at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.