It’s hard to score runs without getting on base.

After struggling with that during his freshman season at Ball State, Northwest Indiana Oilmen infielder Justin Conant made it his summer mission to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

“I struck out more than I wanted to in my first year,” Conant said of his freshman year. “One of my goals every season is to get more walks than strikeouts. I didn’t do that in college, so it’s my main goal this summer.”

Conant is well on his way. The 2018 Joliet Catholic graduate reached base in the first 19 games he played during the summer season, ending the streak Monday night against the Southland Vikings.

But that one-game slump didn’t affect Conant’s numbers. In 20 games with the Oilmen, he’s second on the team with a .315 batting average and third with a .440 on-base percentage.

Conant has totaled nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts with 15 compared to eight — far better than his walk-to-strikeout ratio in college.

It’s all adding up to a successful summer in Whiting for Conant, who hit .258 in 33 games during the spring for Ball State.

“I wasn’t planning on playing a lot,” Conant said of his rookie season in college. “But we had some injuries and I started playing more.

“I did better than I expected, especially on offense. Getting used to college pitching and seeing good arms every day made me better.”

That improved performance has followed Conant to the Oilmen, where manager Kevin Tyrrell has praised Conant’s mindset late in the count — a key to his low strikeout total.

“He probably has the best two-strike approach on the team,” Tyrrell said.

“His first two swings are usually pretty aggressive. But once he gets two strikes, he shortens up (his swing) and widens out (his stance) to make sure he’s not going to take strike three.”

But the batter’s box isn’t the only part of the field where Conant shines, according to Tyrrell. The Oilmen manager called Conant the best base runner on the team and “the best guy we have on defense.”

“His tools don’t jump out at you, but he does everything great,” Tyrrell said of Conant. “He knows what to do in every situation.”

Over the final month of the Midwest Collegiate League season, Conant said he’s hoping to improve upon that first-half success, boosting his abilities to earn even more playing time next spring.

“I’m trying to get more consistent with my at-bats,” he said. “Right now, I’m getting into too many two-strike counts. I need to put the ball in play in earlier.

“I’m just trying to be a more consistent player so I can be in the lineup every day next year in college.”

Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.