Hello Baseball fans,
We opened our Spring trip this year down in Charleston, SC. Personally, this weekend brought back some great memories, as I got my first college start at the College of Charleston. My freshman year we played in a tournament at the College of Charleston and unfortunately our starting short stop and my mentor, Mike Le Bel tore his rotator cuff, which opened up the opportunity for me to play. Ironically, coming back to “C of C” this year, I had to sit this series out due to an injury and freshman infielder, RJ Warnock filled the hole with an excellent display of defense throughout the weekend.
When a team embarks on an eight-game road trip, it opens up a perfect opportunity to test the depth of the squad. Every guy on that 35 man roster needs to be ready to step up at any given moment, no matter the situation, and produce for the team. Injury stricken, we had the chance to give a lot of our first year players (both freshmen and transfers) a chance to get their feet wet. At the collegiate level the game is a lot quicker than AAU or high school baseball, and it was good to get our guys some playing time.
Although the trip down to South Carolina didn’t appear to be productive on paper, there were a bunch of positives that we were able to take away from the week. The one win of the trip came at a pivotal point, as we were able to pull away with a win over Marshall, in our last game of the week. Most teams, after losing seven straight games, would pack it in and call it a trip, but our guys were able to battle back from a 5-2 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning and pull off the victory. This come-from-behind win demonstrated that we had the character, the ability and the determination to play with any team.
Over the course of the week we were able to see key pitching performances from freshman Evan Flanagan against the College of Charleston and freshman Taso Stathopoulos against the Citadel. These guys were able to work efficiently, throwing strikes and letting our defense work behind them.
As the snow continues to fall up here in New England, we are on the road again to face the University of South Florida in a three game set this weekend. Links to live stats and video van be found on GoRhody.com. First pitch in the series is scheduled for Friday night 7pm ET.
Until Next Time,
Tim Caputo
