Spring Break Recap

The Spring Break Trip did not go as expected. Wins were in short supply and rain was bountiful. We were not able to play the final two games of the trip against Reinhardt and Piedmont and for the first time, came home a day early from our trip. The start of the trip was somewhat positive with a split on the road at HSC. We had a chance to win a tough first game after getting to HSC’s ace pitcher, West, for 11 hits, only to lose in extra innings. In the second game we came out slugging and never looked back as we tagged the #2 starter Daniel for 7 hits and 6 runs in two innings and had 20 hits in the game, winning 21 -4. Alex Foltz gave us a solid performance with seven strong innings on the mound. At Lagrange, we got a solid start from Freshman, Joseph Lucas, who pitch 6 strong but the bullpen could not hold the fort. In the Adrian game, Kevin chandler pitched well enough to keep us in the game but was plagued by 8 errors as we did not come ready to play a top ranked Adrian team.

After a little soul searching and challenging our players to play with energy, determination and the will to overcome adversity, the team exploded for 21 hits and 23 runs against one of our perennial ODAC rivals, VWC. The second game will be played Friday, March 19^th at 3:30 as rain damped the day once again and allowing us to get in only one game on Sunday. The weather this Spring has made it difficult for teams to get in games and practices. We have cancelled three games to date but hope to make up at least two of them before the season ends.

As we move forward from here, we must become a team that stays positive, believes in one another, is determined to overcome obstacles and plays with enthusiasm. Once we accomplish those things , our wins will come. We have talent and we have a good group of players who I feel are good enough to beat anyone on our schedule. Once we get a few players to step up in key situations in the tough games and either make the big pitch or play or get the big hit, our confidence will grow. Keep hanging with us, we will get there.

BC Wins Battle Against Gettysburg

The team made playing games happen this past weekend by putting in a lot of time and hard work shoveling the field. We stressed to the players the sacrifice past teams made to get the field ready for play and they answered the call like all others. In fairness to them, no other team has ever had to remove 12 plus inches of snow from the field so these guys have set a new standard. The players and coaches worked from Tuesday to Saturday morning to remove snow from the field in order to get a doubleheader in on Sunday. As a result, we cancelled our games with Messiah on Saturday, who could not play on Sunday, and scheduled two with Gettysburg, who was cancelled with St. Mary’s on Saturday. The result was two good wins. Both Drew Elkins and Alex Foltz gave us five strong innings as starters in a predetermined five-inning role. Five other pitchers provided solid relief as we prepared the staff for the 10 games in 10 days stretch beginning Thursday. Andy Chrismer (5 for 7 with 2homeruns and 7 RBI) and Brett Howell (4 for 6 and 3 RBI) led us offensively as we scored 21 runs on 23 hits in the doubleheader.

As we look ahead to the 10 games in 10 days stretch, we will face pre-season top 10 Shenandoah U. on Thursday and clearly we must give ourselves a better chance against them this year by avoiding the 19 walks we gave them last year in the two games we played. Friday we play Greensboro College and the on Saturday open up the ODAC season at Hampden-Sydney with a doubleheader. Sunday we travel to Georgia to begin a four-game Spring Trip and return home to play Virginia Wesleyan in a conference doubleheader on Saturday. Pitching will be the key to our overall success this year and the 10-game stretch coming up will be the test to see where we are on the mound. Offensively, we expect to be able to manufacture runs when needed as well as hammer the ball when opportunities arise. In both cases, we expect to improve with every game and return from the trip a better ball club.


I will attempt to blog again during the trip and following our games with HSC. Go Eagles!