Christian Colonel likes to put on a brave face. Sometimes he’ll even eschew heavy jackets. But the truth is he doesn’t like coaching in the cold. He hates it. So earlier this week, when he was guiding his Highland team through a road test against Skyline, something occurred to him.

The Rams faced a two-run deficit in the fifth frame. The temperature hovered in the 30s. The wind whipped at speeds in the teens. “By the fourth, fifth inning, after being in the 30-degree weather for two hours, it’s tough, man,” Colonel said.

So that’s when he gave his players a message.

“We’re gonna go home cold,” Colonel told the Rams. “Do you wanna go home with a W or an L? Either way, you’re going home cold. So you might as well go home with a W.”

As the weather’s temperature dropped, the Rams’ grit surfaced. That’s the trope Colonel emphasizes most. Grit. The game wore on for several more innings, extending into the ninth, but that’s when sophomore Drew Hymas delivered a walk-off single. Highland topped Skyline, 7-6, the Rams’ second straight win to open the season.

“Our guys got really gritty that game,” Colonel said.

Chat Colonel up about his team and you might not make it five minutes before he brings up that word — grit. It might sound cliche, but thing is, Colonel doesn’t use it like one. He looks for grit in lots of tangible ways: Catchers blocking pitches in the dirt. Diving for ground balls. Running the bases hard. Beating out throws for infield singles. Making good cutoff throws. Being good teammates. “That’s grittiness to me,” Colonel said.

Highland has shown plenty of that early on this season, but to race to a spotless 3-0 start, the Rams have also honed other parts of their games. In Highland’s win over Pocatello, one of the state’s best 4A teams, Colton Durham drew a walk-off walk. The next day, Hymas laced a walk-off single and the Rams secured win No. 2. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, four Rams collected multi-hit games and Highland dismantled Century in a runaway victory.

All three games took place this week, underscoring the Rams’ fast start, both on the scoreboard and the calendar. It’s still March, but Highland only has four more games — plus a couple tournament contests in Boise — before conference play arrives and things get real. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but remember, these guys don’t just hope to go to state. They expect to. They’ve gone each of Colonel’s first four years. They’ve never won their first game, but for a team that has turned into a perennial contender, state hardware has become a real goal.

“First step is to get to state,” Colonel said. “We’ve gotta play clean ball. We’ve gotta be trending up once April 1 happens, get rid of all these stupid mistakes and dial it in a little bit.”

When Colonel mentioned stupid mistakes, he meant the ones in Highland’s 15-run win over Century. When the Rams ended things early with a run-rule decision in the fifth inning, they headed into the clubhouse, where they spent some 20 minutes chatting. But what’s there to chat about after that kind of clobbering?

If you’re asking that question, you probably don’t know Colonel very well.

The Rams may have dismantled the Diamondbacks — Hudson John roped three hits, three Rams posted two-hit games and TJ Edgington tossed three innings of shutout ball — but to Colonel, things could have looked even better. He saw some sloppy at-bats. Not everyone who stepped into the box had a gameplan.

“That’s the biggest thing I was talking about in there,” Colonel said. “Every at-bat’s gotta have a gameplan. You have to have an approach with every at-bat. You can’t just go up there thinking you’re just gonna see ball, hit ball. You gotta have a plan. Doesn’t matter if you’re playing Century or Timberline — you gotta have a plan.”

Like with every phrase Colonel likes to use, when he tells his Rams to have a gameplan in the batter’s box, he’s looking for specific things: Hunt fastballs. Look for good strikes. Don’t swing recklessly at off-speed pitches, especially not those in the dirt. Remember your mechanics. Move runners over, whether or not that means producing a hit.

But Colonel, a fifth-round MLB Draft pick back before any of this year’s players were born, is thoughtful about the way he approaches these early-season games. The Rams are trying to recover from losing 10 seniors last season. Several players are returning — namely first baseman Colton Sneddon, shortstop Luke Davis, catcher Aaron Kearns, pitcher Trem Tolman, second baseman Gunner Wilhelm and outfielder Tanner Kitchin — but the team also rosters six sophomores.

That’s what makes this Highland team different from ones in previous years. The Rams just aren’t as experienced as they usually are. They can no longer rely on graduated seniors like Jaxon Christensen, who hit .424 last year, or Easton Eddie, who hit .403. To make up for that, Colonel says, the team has to do “the extra things,” like running bases well, making solid cutoff throws, limiting mistakes, producing quality at-bats.

The good news for Highland is Colonel really likes the players who are taking over this year. He calls them sponges. They tend to soak in the coaching he offers. But on Wednesday evening, as the wind picked up and the temperature plummeted even further, Colonel gave them the best compliment he has in his arsenal.

“They’re gritty kids,” Colonel said.