After being trapped in the Field House for three weeks, the baseball team was just happy to be able to get outside and play some games. A double header sweep of Cazenovia College was an added bonus.
“The whole team felt really good to finally get outside,” senior pitcher Mike Carletta said. “There was a lot of cabin fever practicing inside after Florida.”
Carletta pitched a complete game to earn the win in UR’s 7-6 victory over Cazenovia in the first game Sunday. He gave up just six hits, but ran into trouble in the seventh inning when he allowed a home run that put Cazenovia ahead 6-5.
Fortunately, the offense was able to pick up the win for him as junior outfielder Matt Davison hit a two-run single in the bottom of the inning to score junior catcher Jeff Jakubowski and sophomore outfielder Adrian Morganstern.
“That’s really never happened to me before,” Carletta said. “To do that [give up the home run], my heart sank and to see that the team came back and picked me up was huge. You just really realize that there’s eight other guys around you and that’s what they’re there for.”
Carletta thinks the comeback shows the kind of character this team has.
“It proved what this team is capable of,” he said. “We just had a lot of confidence in the bottom of that inning.”
Senior pitcher Adam Fay pitched a complete game in the second half of the double header. He allowed eight hits and struck out eight to lead UR to a 12-5 victory. Despite the two complete games, UR’s pitchers still have to make some improvements.
“We need to start getting ahead of hitters early in the count so we can start making our pitches instead of working from a hole,” Carletta said. “When I started to get tired at the end, that’s what really happened.”
The solid pitching was encouraging, but the offense was the story of the day as Davison and Jakubowski each had five hits between the two games. Davison had four RBIs and scored three runs and Jakubowski drove in three runs.
“As a whole, it was good to see us swinging the bats, because that was an area we struggled with in Florida,” head coach Joe Reina said. “Hopefully, that’ll start getting us rolling toward when we open up this weekend in our conference play.”
Davison thinks the offense is just starting to get going and should be even better as the weather warms up.
“We’re starting to go with the ball and go to the opposite field a little more, which is key to our offense,” Davison said. “We’ve got a big weekend coming up. I think we’ll put some big numbers up on the board.”
UR will need help from everybody on the team over the next four days to help get through a grueling stretch of the schedule.
The Yellow-jackets have six games in the next four days, including two double headers against UCAA opponents. UR hosts SUNY Cortland and Medaille College at 3:30 p.m. at Towers field today and tomorrow, respectively.
The Yellowjackets then head to St. Lawrence University for a double header at 2 p.m. Saturday before traveling to Clarkson University for a double header at noon Sunday.
Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, they will not be heading into these games on a high note. After sweeping Cazenovia, Jakubowski scored UR’s only run in a 9-1 loss to Ithaca College on Tuesday.
“I don’t really see it as a setback,” he said. “I think it was a little disappointing that we didn’t compete better, but it’s just one game.
Reina thinks part of UR’s problem against Ithaca was inexperience.
“When you go just by playing experience, we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “All of a sudden it’s their turn to step into the limelight. When you play a team like Ithaca, you know you’re going to be in a dogfight. I think it’s good for our guys to get a taste of what it’s going to take to get to the next level.”
Reina also thought that the team was a little rusty from having to practice indoors for so long.
“You can do all you want in the Field House, but it’s not the same as playing a game,” he said. “These next two, three weeks are going to be crucial because the more you play, the more of a routine you can get into.”
UR will have plenty of opportunity to get into a routine over the next four days. Hopefully, the team can turn opportunity into results.
Jacobs can be reached at bjacobs@campustimes.org.
