Baseball keeps high hopes despite rough start
The Saint Joseph’s University baseball team traveled to Norfolk, Va. for the Old Dominion Tournament last weekend. After getting swept by Pepperdine University in a three-game series from Feb. 17-19, the Hawks were looking for their first win of the 2017 season.
St. Joe’s opened the tournament on Feb. 24 with a game against the University of Kentucky Wildcats, in which they lost 16-9. With two-outs in the second inning, the Hawks’ offense caught fire and struck for four runs. After three consecutive singles, the bases were loaded for senior center fielder Peter Sitaras, who took Kentucky’s Sean Hjelle deep for a grand slam homerun.
By the fourth inning, the Hawks led 5-2. The Wildcats exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking a 9-5 lead. St. Joe’s immediately responded with a four-spot in the top of the fifth. Following a leadoff single from junior catcher Deon Stafford and a double from senior left fielder Cal Jadacki, senior first baseman Dom Cuoci hit a three-run homerun. Before the third out, the Hawks added another run when junior shortstop Matt Maul singled home sophomore right fielder Charlie Concannon, which tied the game at nine runs apiece.
“We’re all just focused on getting on base and then we trust the guys behind us to bring us home,” Jadacki said.
The Wildcats managed to score four runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh, which put them up 16-9, where the score would stand until the game’s final out.
St. Joe’s faced the University of Delaware Blue Hens the following day, but lost the game 10-8. The Hawks got on the scoreboard first after a leadoff homerun from Maul in the bottom of the third inning, the first of three straight innings in which St. Joe’s would score. In the fourth inning, Cuoci singled through the left side to score Jadacki, who reached on a double to lead off the inning. Cuoci later scored on a wild pitch from Delaware’s Burk FitzPatrick to give the Hawks a three-run lead.
The Blue Hens called on Matt Hornich, their fourth pitcher of the game, for the start of the fifth inning. The Hawks jumped on Hornich from the get-go. Stafford led off with a double to left field, setting up a two-run homerun for Jadacki. The fifth inning finished with a 5-0 St. Joe’s lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Blue Hens finally got to St. Joe’s sophomore starting pitcher Tim Brennan, who had shut them out for the first five innings. The first two runners reached base with singles for Delaware and advanced on a passed ball before Doug Trimble brought them home. Brennan would stop the damage there, keeping hold of a 5-2 lead through six innings.
At the start of the seventh, the Hawks replaced Brennan with junior Justin Aungst. Brennan finished in line for the win with four strikeouts, two walks, and just two runs allowed, one earned, through his six innings.
“He had a little bit of a rough start, but he had a big strikeout and a 5-2-3 double play to get us out of a bases loaded jam,” Head Coach Fritz Hamburg said. “But he settled in. He had a long inning in the sixth when he gave up the two runs, but Tim [Brennan] threw the ball very well. This early in the season, you have to be very cognizant of pitch counts and things like that from a health standpoint.”
The Blue Hens loaded the bases with one out against Aungst before Blue Hens’ Jordan Glover cleared the bases with a double that tied the game at five. St. Joe’s was unable to respond in the bottom of the inning, but Delaware kept the momentum rolling in the eighth with three more runs.
In the bottom of the eighth, down three runs, senior catcher Brain Lau led off with a homerun to left field. Maul then reached on an error and advanced to third on a double by freshman third baseman Matt Cuppari. Sitaras brought Maul home with a sacrifice fly to left field and cut the deficit to a single run.
Delaware plated two more runs in the top of the ninth, scoring in four straight innings. The Hawks had three runs to make up in three outs. With one out, Concannon cleared the right field wall to make the score 10-8. St. Joe’s saw two more runners reach base, but neither scored before the game ended.
In the final day of the tournament, the Hawks went up against the Old Dominion University Monarchs, still looking for their first win of the young season. Again, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead, scoring two runs on a double by Cuoci in the opening inning. St. Joe’s then scored two more in the third and led 4-0.
The Monarchs scratched their way back into a tie game. In the fourth inning, Old Dominion’s Culver Lamb homered for their first run. Then in the sixth inning, Lamb picked up two more runs, batting in with a single through the right side. Later in the inning, Zach Rutherford of Old Dominion scored on a wild pitch and tied the game at 4-4.
The seventh and eighth innings were scoreless for both teams, but the Hawks appeared on the scoreboard again in the ninth. Stafford walked and Jadacki singled to start the inning. After Old Dominion’s pitcher Brett Smith balked, St. Joe’s had runners on second and third. Cuoci singled home both runners and advanced to second on the throw home. The next three Hawk hitters struck out, stranding Cuoci on second, but St. Joe’s went to the bottom of the ninth up two runs.
Freshman Hayden Seig, who entered the game for the Hawks in the seventh inning, was on to pitch the ninth. The Monarchs’ leadoff hitter walked. The next hitter singled down the line, allowing the base runner to advance to third. A wild pitch allowed for the runner on first to advance to second. A balk then forced the runner on third home. Now with one out and a runner on third, pinch hitter Turner Bishop tripled to right field and tied the game back up at 6-6. ODU’s Nick Walker flew out to left field, but Bishop was able to tag up and beat the throw home to complete the walk-off victory for Old Dominion.
St. Joe’s finished the weekend 0-3 and moved to a record of 0-6 for the season, but Hamburg doesn’t seem too frazzled by the rough start.
“I think in general this week, we’ve done some really good things offensively,” Hamburg said. “We’re starting to find some rhythm. This is a tough part of the year for all of us because we don’t have a preseason. You come out of the gates playing.”
Despite the struggles, Hamburg points to plenty of positives he’s seen with the team, especially the play of their defense.
“Our defense has been outstanding,” he said. “We’ve made four errors this year, three unfortunately have come via the pitching staff on picks a throw away on a bunt, but the defense has been as good as we could ask.”
Like in years past, Hamburg continues to stress to his players to respect the process. By doing so this season thus far, they’re getting a lot closer to getting on track.
“This is a really good ball club,” Hamburg said. “The process is how we play our game and not trying to chase things and not trying to do too much and having a good balance with how we play. It’s our way, our process, how we hit, how we go about how play the game. That’s our belief. Our guys are all in with that.”
Jadacki expanded on how he believes in the process that Hamburg preaches and why the rough start doesn’t detract from it.
“It’s not a thing we look at after the end of every game,” Jadacki said. “It’s over the course of a season.”
The Hawks will travel to Florida for the Stetson Invitational, in which they’re slated to face Stetson University, Western Michigan University, and the University of Connecticut on March 3-5.
