Sports
Baseball finishes over .500 for first time in 25 years
By Tucker Hamlin ’17
May 7, 2015
Last weekend, Hamilton baseball (16-13) secured a winning season with a sweep of SUNY Polytechnic. The Continentals will finish the season, which included twelve games at neutral sites due to weather, against Utica in the annual Jackie Robinson game. The Continentals finished with a 4-8 record against NESCAC opponents that included series victories against Williams and Middlebury.
In game one against SUNY Polytechnic, Freshman Spencer Vogelbach pitched a complete game one-hitter with six strikeouts. Finlay O’Hara ‘17 and Danny DePaoli ’18 combined to give up only two earned runs over seven innings in game two. Depaoli recorded five strikeouts over four innings, and O’Hara picked up two over the first three innings.
On offense this season, five different Continentals batted over .300, including Joe Jensen ‘15, who started in all thirty games and led the team with a .395 average, 28 runs and 24 stolen bases. Additionally, Ryan Wolfsberg ’15 had a batting average of .379 over twenty-seven games. Wolfsberg led the team in home runs (4) and tied Andrew Haser ’17 with the team of 23 RBIs. Zach Becker ’16, Chris Collins ’17 and Kenny Collins ’17 all finished the season with batting averages over .300.
On the mound, Cole Dreyfuss ‘16 led the Continentals with a 1.55 ERA and a 5-2 record in seven starts. Dreyfuss also had two complete games, over 46.1 innings pitched and held opponents to a .192 batting average over the course of the season. Additionally, Vogelbach posted a 2.25 ERA over eight appearances. In the 40 innings that Vogelbach pitched, he held opponents to a .200 batting average and had two complete games in five starts.
DePaoli, who posted a 2.91 ERA in 21.2 innings, pitched expressed nothing but excitement about the season and for the future. “As a group, we are going to miss the seniors who have shown so much leadership and embraced all of the underclassmen, while still setting the tone for the team. That said we have so much talent in the younger classes that as long as we continue to work hard we should be able to do some special things,” DePaoli said, “While games are not played on paper, and we will have to continue to outwork other teams, I think the future of the program is bright,” he continued.
Despite eight seniors graduating for the Continentals, many key players will still be in uniform next season. All but the leadoff hitter, Jensen, in the lineup against SUNY Polytechnic this past weekend will be returning.
Over the course of the season, the Continentals have seen great improvement, and Head Coach Tim Byrnes had all positive things to say about the season and future. “This season has been a great step forward for the program. Over the weekend our 15th and 16th wins secured the first winning season in 25 years. This team has really bought in to the ‘team first’ mentality.” Coach Byrnes continued, saying “Through self-sacrifice in terms of individual playing time and personal stats, we learned what it takes to win at this level, and I am extremely proud of this group of student-athletes.”
While the Continentals will continue to improve over the offseason, much of the senior presence will be missed. “Our outgoing seniors have now been a part of two record-breaking seasons; they are a great bunch of young men,” Coach Byrnes stated. “ This season’s success is a tremendous testament to our senior class. Their loyalty, commitment and selflessness have really paved the way for our program to endure greater successes in the near future.” With that said, Coach Byrnes remarked, “We are a relatively young team with lots of talent returning for the 2016 season, and if we can continue to grow as a team and as individuals, I truly believe that a program-first postseason berth could be in the works next spring.”