With most of their non-conference schedule behind them, the baseball team knows that only part of their grueling season is over. However, the rest is just around the corner and excuses will get them nowhere.
“Playing baseball in Rochester, you know that you’re going to have to play a lot of games in a short amount of time,” team captain and senior Adam Braveman said. “Every year it’s the same, so using that as an excuse doesn’t cut it.”
This week, UR played eight games over a span of six days.
In those eight games, the team swept the two doubleheaders against Keuka College and Medaille College, split a doubleheader with St. John Fisher and dropped their games against Ithaca College and Cortland State. Despite going 5-3 this past week, Braveman feels the team could do more.
“The past week was not a success,” Braveman said. “We are disappointed that we lost to both Fisher and Ithaca, two teams we are ranked ahead of in the region.”
The week started out promising as UR took a pair of two-run games from Keuka.
Senior Mark Jackson led UR offensively by driving in four runs in the doubleheader, including a tie-breaking three-run home run in the sixth inning of game two.
Senior Scott Smith contributed two hits in each game and an RBI.
The Yellowjackets’ relievers picked up the wins from both games.
In game one, sophomore Hunter Hawkins pitched two and one-third innings of work to record his win and freshman Carl Brown pitched an inning and a one-third in game two. Senior Mark Jakubowski picked up his third save of the season by closing out the second game.
UR dropped its game to Ithaca in their next outing 4-2. Braveman lead the team offensively with two doubles and an RBI and Smith also added two hits.
Freshman Jim Bard drove in a run in the eighth reducing Ithaca’s lead to one, but the Yellowjackets could not catch up.
Junior Steve Foley took the loss after giving up two runs in his three innings of work.
The Yellowjackets rebounded against Medaille, taking games one and two from the Mavericks 6-0 and 6-3.
Sophomore pitcher Brady Noon blanked the Mavericks in game one, pitching a complete game with seven strikeouts and executing two successful pickoffs. Freshman Dan Price and junior Dan Pfohl led UR offensively with two RBIs each in game one.
In game two, sophomore Jon Fanning dominated at the plate with three RBIs. Freshman reliever Jon Fishback picked up his first collegiate win by throwing four and two-third innings of one-hit ball in game two.
Crosstown rival St. John Fisher came to UR on Sunday and played in front of more than 200 fans, sparking a highly charged atmosphere.
“Having a lot of fans out [at the Fisher game] always adds a little excitement to the game,” Braveman said. “When you play your rival the game is just that much more intense, that much more exciting.”
Game one was a classic pitcher’s duel that unfortunately UR found itself on the shorter end of the rope. Starter Steve Foley went the distance allowing only two runs on seven hits. Fisher’s two runs came off of a two-run homer in the second inning by freshmen Chris King. UR got on the board in the fifth when senior Justin Martinez scored off a sacrifice fly by freshman Ryan Hazlett. UR squandered a chance to tie the game in the sixth when it loaded the bases for freshman Dan Price with nobody out. Unfortunately Price grounded into a double play which was followed by a pop fly to center that ended the inning.
Allard can be reached at dallard@campustimes.org.
