Sports
Veteran core sparks successful opening stretch for baseball team
By Henry Shuldiner ’19
April 7, 2016
Tags sports
Hamilton’s 2016 baseball season is off and running after a very busy start to the campaign. With eight of the nine starters being returning players, the team was able to settle into its regular lineup rather quickly. They kicked off the season with back-to-back wins against Bard College on March 12, edging out the hosts 9-8 in the first game, then coasting past Bard in the second game by a 7-1 tally.
The team immediately got on a plane to Orlando, Florida, where they played 12 games over the next 11 days. The team began the trip by splitting a series with University of Minnesota Morris and then losing both games of a doubleheader to Fredonia College. They would continue on to win their next five, sweeping Lawrence and Allegheny both in the two game series, and splitting a series with Bowdoin. The team also split their final series of the trip with Keuka.
“We played well [in Florida] but we still think we haven’t reached our full potential as a team,” commented captain Dave Rose ’16. “While we beat some good teams in Florida, Allegheny and Bowdoin to name a few, we dropped a couple games to teams that we should have beat handily” he added.
Infielder Andrew Haser ’17 has been a force to be reckoned with at the plate so far the season. With five home runs and 20 runs batted in (RBIs) already this season, Haser earned himself the impressive accolade of NESCAC Player of the Week for the week of March 13. Haser also hit a walk-off grand slam against Allegheny to secure Hamilton the win. Even more impressively, that was his second grand slam of the week. The junior banged one out of the park a two days prior to clear the bases against Lawrence.
The team travelled to Amherst this past weekend for a three-game series with their NESCAC rivals, who entered the conference schedule ranked 21st in the nation. Despite three more home runs from Haser, Hamilton still lost their first game 18-8. They fared much better the next day, defeating their hosts 6-2 in the first game of the day. However, the Continentals subsequently lost in heartbreaking fashion in the rubber match. After Amherst came back in the 6th inning to tie it and force extras, the men in purple would go on to hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning to earn themselves the win and take the series.
“The loss in the final game was incredibly disappointing, given that we were leading for a majority of the game and considering that it was pretty much dark out during the final inning in which they scored on a walk-off hit,” said Rose. “Ultimately, we were two outs away from the umps declaring the game a tie.”
The team has a tough remaining schedule, facing teams like Wesleyan, the reigning NESCAC champions, and SUNY Cortland, who is currently ranked in the top five and were also ranked number one overall in the country last year.
Overall, though, the team is looking just as good as they ever have. With a solid pitching rotation which includes starters Cole Dreyfuss ’16, Spencer Vogelbach ’18, Max Jones ’19 and Danny DePaoli ’18, as well as a reliable bull pen, the pitching staff has been performing phenomenally. “I attribute our success so far to great pitching and a great offensive lineup. I think our offense has been the highlight of the season so far,” remarked Rose. “If we can patch up our defense in the field I believe the sky is the limit for this team.”
The team faces Brockport on the road this weekend, looking to sweep the series and walk away with two more wins under their belt.