Football teams can see an offense put up 45 points in four games with ease but when a baseball team does it, it is something to marvel at.
That is exactly what the UR baseball team did in a four game span over the weekend as they easily took down Liberty League rivals St. Lawrence University Saints.
‘I thought the team did a great job this weekend in capturing four quality victories over St. Lawrence,” freshman pitcher Jon Menke said. ‘All parts of the team were working. The offense kept scoring runs, the defense kept making plays and the pitching shut down a strong offensive team. It was an overall great team effort.”
Combined with the loss on Wednesday against SUNY Brockport, the Yellowjackets are now 11-3 and 4-0 in the Liberty League standings after the first week of conference play.
In the first double header on Saturday, it seemed as if everyone was driving someone in. The team had five players with at least two runs batted in and six players with multiple hits.
On Sunday, the men didn’t let up on the offensive power as they pounded the weak Saints’ pitching staff to win each game by six points. It seemed as if the ten days between games had no effect on the Yellowjackets.
‘I was a little worried with the lay off between Florida and the weekend, so our coaching staff was expecting some rust,” head coach Joe Reina said.
With a minimum of 10 at-bats, the Yellowjackets had seven players that hit with at least a .300 average.
Not to be over shadowed during the weekend, the pitching staff put out brilliant performanceswith only two runs allowed in one game.
The starting pitchers for the Yellowjackets shut down the Saint’s offense and gave up only three earned runs combined. Freshmen pitchers Nate Kowel and Corey King combined for a seven hit shutout in the second game on Saturday.
The pitching staff showed that their inexperience was not going to be a factor against tough Liberty League teams.
‘Half of the pitching staff is made up of freshmen, so to have such a successful start to the season is exciting because we can only get better from here,” Menke said. ‘The older guys have been great role models and [we] younger guys have just been trying to follow their example.”
This four game head start put the Yellowjackets in early contention in the Liberty League.
The team has a lot of momentum going into the rest of the almost three month schedule.
‘It’s always a big deal when you take all four games in a weekend series,” senior pitcher Steve Guzski said. ‘It not only gives us a jump in the standings, but it sends a message to the rest of the league that we’re not messing around. It’s also keeps our motivation going during the week in practice since a weekend sweep sets the bar pretty high for our improvement in upcoming games.”
With the loss at SUNY Brockport on Wednesday, the Yellowjackets hit a speed bump on the way to a season best seven game win streak but look to rebound.
The Yellowjackets will continue their conference schedule at home for two double headers against Union College on April 3 and 4.
Manrique is a member of the class of 2012.
