Category: Wesleyan

Top 10 Games of 2015

Bates vs. Bowdoin is always a battle to the end. (Courtesy of CIPhotography.com)
Bates vs. Bowdoin is always a battle to the end. (Courtesy of CIPhotography.com)

Every game matters in the NESCAC, but at the end of the day, some games matter just a little bit more. Here are the games that you have to pay attention to if you are a NESCAC fan.

10. November 11: Bowdoin at Bates

When these teams meet in Week 7, it is likely that NESCAC title hopes for both teams will be out the window, but the CBB title will likely be on the line. Bowdoin could be worn down by the previous two weeks vs. NESCAC heavyweights Trinity and Wesleyan while Bates will be coming off another Maine rivalry match-up vs. Colby. The CBB rivalry games always provide quality football and this game is likely to be the same.

9. October 24: Tufts at Williams

Last year, this game came down to the wire in Medford with the Jumbos stealing a huge win for the program, 27-20, but this year the game flips across the state to western Mass. and Williamstown. This is a pivotal game in the Ephs’ schedule if they want to get back to being an above .500 team. Tufts returns a strong nucleus of players and is likely to make noise yet again in the league.

8. October 17: Trinity at Tufts

Tufts finished last season at 4-4 but got blown out by every team they faced that finished ahead of them (Trinity, Amherst, and Middlebury). This is Tufts’ first shot in 2015 at one of the NESCAC heavyweights and will likely prove if Tufts can join the NESCAC title conversation. Luckily for the ‘Bos they don’t have to travel to the daunting Coop at Trinity this year.

7. September 26: Middlebury at Wesleyan

The 2015 season starts off with a bang as we get two major title contenders squaring off Week 1. Wesleyan appears to be hit hard by graduation losses but they do get RB LaDarius Drew ’15 back who was out with a foot injury all of 2014. Whichever team can come out victorious will have made their path to the NESCAC title significantly easier.

6. November 14: Middlebury at Tufts

It’s hard to say right now how this game will look in Week 8 but clearly this should be a tremendous game provided Tufts can build on the success it had last season. This is one of three huge games the final weekend that will most likely have a big impact on determining the league champion. Tufts looks to avenge an absolute slaughtering in last year’s finale that ended the great season for the Jumbos.

5. October 10: Middlebury at Amherst

This will be Amherst’s first real test of the 2015 season. We will already have seen the Panthers in a big time game Week 1 versus Wesleyan so we should know a lot about the team. A lot of questions about how the 2015 season should unfold will be revealed in this match-up, more so on the Amherst side. Gunslinger Matt Milano ’16 was completely shut down last year by the Lord Jeffs defense, but a torrential downpour didn’t help the Panthers’ aerial attack. Look for Midd to flip the script this year.

4. November 7: Trinity at Amherst

The difference in last year’s game was a missed PAT by the Bantams which allowed the Lord Jeffs to escape the Coop with a 7-6 win. This win last year clinched the NESCAC title for the Jeffs, and it could possibly again this year. But with the Bants reloading from what was a down year for them this game should be even better this year. Both teams have a very realistic shot at being 6-0 coming into this game so this could end up being a pseudo-NESCAC title game. Homefield advantage should play a crucial role for the Jeffs in this one.

3. November 14: Amherst at Williams

Doesn’t matter what the records of both these teams are, The Biggest Little in America game is always circled on the calendars. Per usual, the game will be televised on NESN, but this year it is scheduled for a 1 PM start unlike last year’s game under the lights. Anything can happen in a rivalry game like this, and no matter how good or bad either team has been all season up until this game, it will usually be a toss up. Amherst has won the last four games in the series and if this game wasn’t already big enough, it will be one of the Week 8 games that has a big impact on crowning a league champ. Both run games will be heavily relied on in this one with temps dropping fast at this point in the year in the Berkshires.

2. November 14: Wesleyan at Trinity

The Connecticut rivalry game has been very strong the past few years with both teams in the upper echelon of the NESCAC. Last year’s game came down to the wire with a failed two-point conversion by Trinity being the difference in the game allowing the Cards to hold onto the win, 20-19. Look for this year’s Week 8 match-up to provide the same excitement added by the possibility of this game being for the NESCAC title with Trinity looking to be stronger than last year. This game might not have the same hype as Williams-Amherst, but it looks to be just as good.

1. October 24: Wesleyan at Amherst

Last year this was the deciding game of the NESCAC Championship, and the Wesleyan Cardinals were 23 seconds away from being the champs had it not been for a game-tying 41-yd field goal by the Lord Jeffs. As we’ve said above, the Cards are going to be hit hard by graduation losses, but they still appear on paper to be one of the top teams in the league. In addition, Amherst loses their kicker, Phillip Nwosu ’14, which will be a tremendous loss as their special teams game will likely be weaker than in years past. If the game is close, the Amherst offense is going to have to drive deeper into Wesleyan territory to put points on the board. Whoever wins this game will likely be in the driver seat to win the championship.

Welcome to 2015

Amherst reigned at the end of last year, but 0 promises much uncertainty.
Amherst reigned at the end of last year, but 2015 promises much uncertainty. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)

Eight games. The NESCAC football season lasts all of eight games. That is nothing. Eight games is half of an NFL season, at which point we usually think the Giants still have a shot at the playoffs and are also debating whether Tom Brady is no longer an ‘elite’ quarterback. Yet eight games is all we get in the NESCAC, for reasons that extend well off of the playing field. In an average NFL game, only 11 minutes of actual live action happens. So if that holds true for the NESCAC (there are reasons why the NESCAC might have slightly more time per game), a team has less than 100 minutes of actual live football in their entire season. All of the weight room sessions, preseason practices, positional meetings, late night calls by coaches to recruits around the country, and the countless hours of watching tape boil down to less live action than the length of your typical popcorn movie.

That of course is a very reductive way of looking at things, and it makes the amount of time and effort poured into NESCAC football by players, coaches, parents and fans seem silly. Not to mention what it says about us, the people who spend long hours writing about that 88 minutes of actual football. What the short season does mean is that every little thing matters, and things that might appear inconsequential can quickly become season-changing.

Take for example the rainstorm that befell northern Vermont on October 4, 2014, interferring with the Middlebury vs. Amherst game that afternoon. The headline from that game read something like this, “In a big rainstorm, Amherst escapes with win to remain perfect while the loss drops Middlebury to 1-2.” By the end of the season and with 20-20 hindsight, the headline could have read, “Rainstorm grounds Middlebury aerial attack and robs Panthers of share of the NESCAC title.” Scribes of the first title did not foresee that Middebury would end the season on a five-game winning streak that included snapping Trinity’s 51-home-game winning streak to end the season as the hottest team in the league. Amherst went on to finish the season undefeated and won another league title.

Turning to 2015, that same Middlebury team enters the season as (spoiler alert!) our favorite to climb all the way to the top and capture the league title and complete their first undefeated season since 1972. Not that there aren’t questions around the roster. The biggest one is at the quarterback spot where normally one would presume Matt Milano ’16 would remain the signal-caller after a spectacular finish to his first season as a starter. However, the arrival of transfer Jared Lebowitz ’17 from UNLV means Milano is not guaranteed that starting spot. One should still consider Milano the favorite given that he is entrenched as the starter currently. That Middlebury has the most enviable quarterback situation in the league only two seasons removed from Mac Foote ’14, one of the greatest NESCAC quarterbacks ever, is ridiculous. The offensive line has to replace all three interior starters, and the defense lost some valuable contributors. Yet the core of that defensive unit returns in defensive end Jake Clapp ’16, middle linebacker Tim Patricia ’16, and safety Dan Pierce ’16.

The main competition for Middlebury should be the reigning champs, Amherst. The Lord Jeffs have made it a habit of making prognosticators look silly by continually exceeding already high expectations, so I don’t feel comfortable putting Amherst anywhere besides the favorite. The Jeffs have to replace their linebacker duo of Chris Tamasi ’15 and Ned Deane ’15 that led their defense, as well as three offensive lineman and quarterback Max Lippe ’15 who provided a huge spark for the offense last year. Having skill players like running back Nick Kelly ’17 and receiver Jackson McGonagle ’16 around should make things easier, and a straight-up filthy secondary will make throwing the ball a dangerous proposition (look out, Midd). Amherst always plays its backups a decent amount so all the new starters have game experience.

The Connecticut teams, Wesleyan and Trinity, have to answer questions about whether they should still be considered in the elite echelon of the NESCAC. Wesleyan transitions to new Head Coach Dan DiCenzo, though the transition is not a hard one as DiCenzo was the Defensive Coordinator for former HC Mike Whalen. The real transition is on the field where the Cardinals lost more significant contributors than it is possible to count. Having running back LaDarius Drew ’15 return after an injury knocked him out of all of last year will be a huge help, but running back was the only position where the Cards returned any depth. In Hartford, Trinity lost an unfathomable three games and saw that home winning streak turn into a two-game losing streak. The return of several skill players like Sonny Puzzo ’17 after a year away from Trinity will be critical to getting the Bantams back on top of the NESCAC. The defense lost seven starters and will need the back seven to improve mightily by the time the heavy weights at the back end of the schedule come around.

The return of a healthy LaDarius Drew buoys Wesleyan's optimism. Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)
The return of a healthy LaDarius Drew ’15 buoys Wesleyan’s optimism. (Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)

Those four represent the teams with a realistic shot at the NESCAC title, but the other six teams have plenty to be excited about. Multiple NESCAC Head Coaches have said they believe the bottom of the league is stronger than it has ever been. The team that for a long time represented that basement, Tufts, will look to reprise whatever alchemy made them go 4-0 at home last year. Alex Snyder ’17 looks to be the new starting quarterback, though he could be pushed by Dartmouth transfer Jonathan DiBiaso ’17. The Jumbos can also get their first road win in forever opening week at Hamilton, but the Continentals will fight hard trying to get second year coach Dave Murray his first win at the helm. Hamilton has almost every starter returning as the program hopes to make strides in Central New York.

Williams was the biggest disappointment a year ago, and a season without clear improvement will make the rumblings for a coaching change in Willy World harder to ignore. The hopes of the Ephs hinge largely on a big season from quarterback Austin Lommen ’16 and a talented and big group of receivers. On defense, defensive end James Howe ’16 has to regain his 2013 form and get some help from those around him.

Finally, the CBB (Colby, Bowdoin, and Bates) appears to be wide open. Bates has been ascendant in the series and has controlled the crown for the past three seasons, but they lose quarterback Matt Cannone ’15 and eight of their starters from a very good defense. Receiver Mark Riley ’16 and linebacker Mark Upton ’17 have to be leaders, and the replacements have to grow up fast on defense. Colby will want to take the pressure off of quarterback Gabe Harrington ’17 by relying on the two-headed attack of running backs Carl Lipani ’17 and Jabari Hurdle-Price ’17. Bowdoin enters a new era with Head Coach JB Wells coming from Endicott College. Wells will have to find other options on offense besides workhorse running back Tyler Grant ’17.

As excited as we are to watch some DIVISION III FOOTBALL!, we have the same level of excitement about the group of writers we have for this fall. We have six people who are some of the most knowledgeable people about the league as a whole. With that being said, that doesn’t mean we aren’t still looking for more. If you are interested in writing, or know someone who might be, or would like to help out in other ways – web design, graphic design, Tweeting games, reporting games, etc. – email us at nothingbutnescac@gmail.com. We are constantly striving to improve our coverage, so if you have any suggestions or article ideas that we should do, please email us also.

Looking forward to a great year – Adam Lamont (Bowdoin ’16) and Joe MacDonald (Middlebury ’16)

‘Cac on the Farm: NESCAC Baseball Players in the Minor Leagues

Mike Odenwaelder at Amherst.
Mike Odenwaelder at Amherst.

Editors Note: Filling the void of Trinity baseball writers for the blog left by graduated Carson Kenney ’15 and Sean Meekins ’15 is Nick Di Benedetto ’17.

This year the NESCAC had three baseball players drafted in the Major League Baseball Amateur Players Draft. Amherst’s Mike Odenwaelder ’16 was the first NESCAC player drafted in the 16th round. The other two draftees are Wesleyan’s Donnie Cimino ’15, the Cubs 37th round pick, and Amherst graduate Robert Lucido, the Blue Jays 40th round pick.The road to the show is nothing easy, and the lower you are drafted the tougher it is to show your true potential. Typically Major League farm systems chew up and spit out the low draft picks because they invest their big time money in the top picks.

Odenwaelder was drafted high enough to where he is going to get good opportunities to showcase his talent. He was the 493rd overall pick, and the Baltimore Orioles 16th round pick. Already he has played in 34 games for the Aberdeen Ironbirds, which is the Orioles Single A Short Season affiliate team. Odenwaelder is batting .220, and for a guy just drafted over a month ago, he is settling into the minors fine. When talking with Odenwaelder, he was thrilled to be playing with the Orioles and is very content playing in Aberdeen, which has top notch facilities. He is living large at the moment especially considering he did not plan on even playing college baseball.

During High School at Wamogo in Litchfield, Connecticut, Odenwaelder was pursuing his dream of being a college basketball player. He was greatly influenced by his high school basketball coach, Gregg Hunt, who passed away during his college basketball recruiting process. Odenwaelder, the 2nd best player in Wamogo basketball history, turned to baseball to cope with losing a coach so close to him. He ended up doing a post-graduate year at Canterbury School in Milford, Connecticut to follow his love for baseball. He became a three sport All-State athlete during his post-grad year which gave him an opportunity to be recruited for baseball. Odenwaelder was committed to play at UConn Avery-Point, but a roster spot opened up for him at Amherst a few months before his freshman fall.

Prior to the 2015 draft, the past ten years have produced six NESCAC draftees, five of whom came from Trinity College. Only one of those draftees is still playing: Kevin Heller from Amherst who was picked in 2012. On record there are only four NESCAC players who have made it to the show, all of whom were pitchers. The numbers are sparse so it is unfair to think Odenwaelder is incapable of making it to the big leagues due to the fact that he is a position player. He would be the first NESCAC position player to ever play in the Major Leagues, but he would certainly not be the first 16th rounder. There have been plenty of players picked that late who made it to the big leagues, such as James Shields and Mike Napoli.

Odenwaelder was the second of eleven Division III baseball players drafted this year. He was also drafted as a junior, which is rare in Division III baseball. Had he not hurt his shoulder during his sophomore season, Odenwaelder likely would have been drafted as a pitcher. When asked about his decision to leave college to play professionally, Odenwaelder said, “I just wanted to pursue my dream, and if I had a chance of making it to the bigs, I was going to have to leave this year.” Being a 16th round pick means he is getting some decent money to play, but it is not life-changing money. Had he stuck around another season it is possible he could have raised his draft stock, but it is also possible he could have hurt it as he would have been 23 years old by the time of the 2016 draft. By signing with the Orioles he is now absorbed in a complete baseball atmosphere. Odenwaelder gets the opportunity to play everyday for the rest of the 2015 season, facing great competition and improving more than he would have at Amherst. Instead of it just being a sport, it is now his job and most athletes’ fantasy. “I’m getting a paycheck to do what I love […] it’s a dream come true really”.

Odenwaelder is the highest NESCAC draft pick since Trinity College Pitcher Jonah Bayliss, the Royals 7th round draft pick in 2002, who made his Major League debut in 2005. He went on to pitch in the Majors for three consecutive seasons. Odenwaelder seems to have the tools to make a run for it at the next level. He has what it takes on defense as he was named to the NCAA Division III Gold Glove Team. Beyond multiple NESCAC honors, he was named to the D3Baseball.com All-American team and First Team All-New England.

In his three years at Amherst, he put up consistently great numbers. In a total of 118 games he had a career batting avg. of .372 with 16 homers, 86 RBI, and 39 stolen bases in what many are calling the “dead bat era” of college baseball. His most promising season was his sophomore year where he hit .400 with 6 HRs and 31 RBI, posting a whopping Slugging Percentage of .607. On the mound he had a career ERA of 2.55 in 24.2 innings pitched.

While Odenwaelder is busy working, he understands the importance an Amherst degree can have once baseball is over. He is dead-set on getting his degree from Amherst. He is either planning on going back for the next two Fall semesters, or just taking care of his senior year when his baseball career is over.

Donnie Cimino at Wesleyan.
Donnie Cimino at Wesleyan.

Wesleyan superstar Donnie Cimino was the Cubs 37th round pick. This spring he led the Cardinals to another NESCAC title, batting .399 with 3 homeruns. In his four years at Wesleyan in 645 at bats, he batted .373 with a .465 slugging percentage. He holds the record for Wesleyan’s most hits in a season with 69 and most career hits with 240. So far the minors have been a struggle for him as he is getting an opportunity to play only every few days or so. Cimino is batting  just .163 in the Arizona Rookie League. The Cubs have moved him from center to left field for most of his starts. His regimen in rookie ball consists of a lot of training, much like that of a spring training player, so he is learning a lot. Hopefully he is able to make some adjustments and excel in the Cubs farm system.

Before his days of flying around the diamond as a Wesleyan Cardinal, Cimino was a star on the gridiron at Westwood High School in New Jersey. His eyes were set on playing college football, which is how Wesleyan landed the stud baseball player. Cimino, who claims he was a “late bloomer”, didn’t gain much prowess on the baseball field until his senior year of high school when he really filled out, but by that time it was the spring and most of the recruiting was done. He considered doing a post-graduate year to push for a Division I opportunity, but decided to stick it out and get a good education and play two sports at Wesleyan. The Wesleyan baseball program was very fortunate to have him knocking on their door to be a walk-on his freshman year. The Don, as he is informally known, started every game in his four year tenure with the Cardinals.

The third NESCAC player drafted was Amherst’s Robert Lucido, who was cut by the Lord Jeffs during his sophomore season. Despite not playing for the Jeffs anymore, Lucido landed a spot in the Call Ripken League, a collegiate summer baseball league. He was able to earn a workout with the Blue Jays, where he did well enough to be drafted in the 40th and final round of this year’s draft. He is playing in the Gulf Coast Rookie League in Florida hitting .153 with a .313 on base percentage. He gets an opportunity to play just once every 7 or so games. In all likelihood his minor league career will last maybe a year or two, but it is possible he continues to overcome his long odds. Furthermore his ability to get into professional baseball opens up many avenues for him within the sport, and he could see a career in baseball off of the field. Teams sometimes use low draft picks on players who could potentially work in the front office, where multiple NESCAC alumni are scattered throughout. Three current MLB General Managers are graduates of Amherst. In the front office for the Boston Red Sox, former Trinity Bantam Psi U brother, baseball and football player Sam Kennedy will take over the job as President at the end of the season.

The NESCAC’s three MLB Draftees blew every other Division III conference out of the water. In addition, Wesleyan Pitcher Gavin Pittore (’16) signed on as a free agent last week with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Also, there have been two players that signed independent league contracts; Joe Jensen ’15,Hamilton’s star outfielder, signed with the Southern Illinois Miners in the Frontier League, and Nick Cooney ’15, one of Wesleyan’s aces, signed a contract with the Fargo-Moorehead Redhawks in North Dakota.

The odds are very much against minor leaguers making it to the majors. Even if they can’t make things work on the playing field, all NESCAC baseball players have a great education which allows them to venture off into different avenues of baseball. NESCAC graduates, and other Division 3 graduates are all over front offices, and coming from a small school is not a disadvantage at all.  Though most players don’t make it, there are the few fortunate ones that make it to the Show. For Odenwaelder, Cimino, and Lucido, even if they never make it to the major leagues, they won’t consider their professional baseball careers a failure, but rather a great experience and opportunity.

Making it Big: Gavin Pittore Signs with the Dodgers

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Gavin Pittore has gone from Wesleyan to the pros in short succession. (Courtesy of Wesleyan University)

Hey kids, do you want to become a professional baseball player? Joining a NESCAC baseball team is the way to go given recent events. Wesleyan pitcher Gavin Pittore ’16 just signed as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers, making him the fourth NESCAC player to be either drafted or signed by an MLB team this year. Next week we will have an in-depth feature on the progress of those NESCAC players who have already begun playing professional baseball, but for now let’s look at Pittore and how he ended up receiving a $105,500 signing bonus.

If we back up 18 months, the idea of Pittore signing with a major league team was laughable. Entering his sophomore year he was fighting to get a spot in the rotation, but he was blocked by more established starters. Given that he had a 3.21 ERA and had allowed 18 walks in 28 innings as a freshman, he didn’t scream breakout candidate. Through his first four outings in 2014 Pittore had a 8.73 ERA over 11.1 IP, but he still started the conference season in the weekend rotation. From that point on Pittore was an absolute horse for the Cardinals. Over his last 114 innings in a Wesleyan uniform, Pittore had a 1.45 ERA and struck out 119 batters vs. only 31 walks.

Even though he emerged as a stud for the Cardinals, his performance at Wesleyan didn’t necessarily signal a professional future. Pittore never made the All-NESCAC First Team, and he had only one appearance on the All-NESCAC Second Team this year. (Brief tangent. The All-NESCAC teams have a combined five pitchers on them vs. 19 position players. How does that make sense? Give pitchers more spots; they deserve them.)After all, it was fellow Cardinal Sam Elias ’15, and not Pittore, who took home Pitcher of the Year honors in the NESCAC this season. Given the success that Elias and Nick Cooney ’15 also had pitching at Wesleyan in the past two years, it is hard to extricate how much of Pittore’s low ERA came courtesy of the elite defense behind him.

Not until this summer did Pittore really break onto the radar of scouts. Last summer he spent the entire season with the Harwich Mariners but pitched only sparingly. He showed up at the open Cape League tryout this year hoping for the best and got a temporary contract with the Bourne Braves. The rest, as they say, is history. After pitching almost exclusively as a starter at Wesleyan, Pittore became a reliever for the Braves and immediately flourished in the role. In 17 innings, he did not allow a single earned run and had 17 strikeouts in those innings. At the All-Star game in front of a multitude of scouts, Pittore flashed a 92-94 MPH fastball, impressing all in attendance. Do not underestimate the role of that All-Star game in him signing either. As far back as mid-June Pittore started talking to teams about potentially signing and foregoing his final year at Wesleyan, but Pittore says that only in the past week did he begin to talk to the Dodgers specifically.

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Gavin Pittore pitching this summer on the Cape League. (Courtesy of the Bourne Braves)

In order to get him to leave Wesleyan, the Dodgers offered him that big bonus. The bonus is important given the low salaries for minor league players, but Pittore has someone to lean on for advice: former teammate Donnie Cimino ’15 who was drafted in the June draft. The two have talked regularly about Cimino’s experiences in the minor leagues, and Cimino has been able to offer advice. Though he is hardly a veteran since he was drafted in June, seeing Cimino adapt to the minor leagues told Pittore he could also make the jump. Yet in the end Pittore says that Cimino didn’t influence his decision. Pittore is still trying to figure out how exactly he will get his Wesleyan degree, but he is hoping to do it over two fall semesters as soon as possible.

Even though last summer was not a great one for him statistically, Pittore attributes a lot of his success to his time on the Mariners. “Being around such advanced baseball guys like Cape guys is huge for development and I think that’s what did it for me.” He was able to learn a lot about how to be  a be a better pitcher from his teammates and coaches instead of just throwing the ball hard . Of course, spending all that time concentrating on baseball also helped his velocity. After sitting at 90 MPH for a long time, Pittore now throws consistently in the low to mid 90s. At 6’3″ and 200 pounds, he has the frame to throw in the mid 90s once he spends some more time on a professional level weight lifting program. He has also reworked his wind-up so that he now turns his body to the side more which hides the ball from the batter longer. That deception may be even more important than the few MPH he has added. While the fastball is his best pitch right now, Pittore will have to work on having one knockout secondary pitch also if he wants to be able to progress through the minors as a reliever.

Just quickly keep in mind also the role of geography in this story. Being from Massachusetts allowed Pittore to attend the league tryouts in 2014 and 2015. He could sign a 10 day contract knowing he would be able to land in another New England summer league if things didn’t work out. If Pittore is from say Oklahoma, it is unlikely he ever pitches in the Cape League. And without that exposure, there is no way that he signs with a major league team. That isn’t to denigrate his accomplishments, but rather is an acknowledgment of all the factors that came together to make it possible

While this obviously is not the central focus at the moment, Pittore leaving is devastating for the back-to-back NESCAC champions Wesleyan. All three of their weekend starters from 2015 (Pittore, Cooney, and Elias) are no longer on the roster, and the only remaining pitcher with significant experience is Peter Rantz ’16. Behind Rantz, no pitcher threw 25 innings last season so the Cardinals will need to rely on someone like Ethan Rode ’17 making a massive jump in 2016. The lineup loses top performers like Cimino and Andrew Yin ’15. A three-peat will require a lot to go right in Middletown.

For Pittore, NESCAC baseball is in the past as he makes the jump to the pros. He is done pitching on the Cape too and will leave Monday to go to Arizona for a physical with the Dodgers. He might try to meet up with Cimino who is playing for the Cubs affiliate in the Arizona Rookie League. Beyond that, Pittore is still unsure of where the Dodgers will place him in the minors. The road to the majors, or even the high minor leagues, is not an easy one. Most don’t make it, but given that Pittore is still improving, it is impossible to write him off. Nobody saw him being in this position a few months ago. Congrats to Gavin and we wish him the best.

NESCAC Stars Summer Baseball Update

We have been quiet this summer, busy with other endeavors and soaking up the sun. However, many NESCAC baseball players have spent the summer playing ball, often in the highly competitive collegiate leagues that feature Division One players and future high draft picks. Overall we found less NESCAC players in top-tier leagues this summer, but the numbers tend to fluctuate year-to-year. We focus on the New England summer leagues here, but leave a comment about any other players we missed and we will make sure to give them recognition.

 Cape Cod League

Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics
Gavin Pittore ’16

Bourne Braves Pitcher Gavin Pittore ’16 (Wesleyan): The only player from the NESCAC on a Cape League team at this stage of July, no NESCAC player has had a better summer than Pittore. After finishing the NESCAC season with a 1.53 ERA, Pittore has carried over his success to the Cape League which is widely considered the best summer league in the country and is littered with future MLB first round draft picks. A year ago he spent the season on the Harwich Mariners but pitched sparingly. This summer he has become a vital part of the Braves bullpen with 10 appearances so far. Incredibly Pittore is yet to allow an earned run over 14.2 IP. He has struck out 17 batters and has a WHIP of 0.75. That success has rocketed Pittore into prominence among scouts so much so that even though he didn’t get drafted last month, he might sign with an MLB team soon and forego his senior year at Wesleyan.

New England Collegiate Baseball League

Connor Colombo '16
Connor Colombo ’16

Valley Blue Sox Pitcher Connor Colombo ’16 (Bates): This spring was a breakout campaign for the tall Bates right-hander, and Colombo has proven that his performance wasn’t a fluke with solid pitching this summer. In 24.2 IP, he owns a 3.28 ERA in what is considered by many the second-best college baseball summer leageu. Colombo has acted as both a starter and long reliever in his six appearances, and he has a 1-1 record. Though he has only struck out 11 batters, Colombo has done a good job of keeping the ball in the park and not allowing too many hard hit balls. He also is the only player in the NESCAC who has managed to stick on an NECBL team this summer which is a much lower number than in past years.

 Futures League

Courtesy of Colby Athletics
Courtesy of Colby Athletics

Seacoast Mavericks Outfielder Ryder Arsenault ’17 (Colby): After another successful spring for the Mules, Arsenault has received extensive playing time for the Mavericks. However, this has been a difficult summer for Arsenault who now sits well below the Mendoza line with a .183 batting average. A recent slump has really torpedoed his statistics as he was hitting a much more respectable .250 on June 24. Still, Arsenault has been able to see a lot of pitches at a high level of baseball, and it is also possible that he is dealing with an injury since he has not stolen one base after snagging 20 this past spring.

North Shore Navigators Pitchers Speros Varinos ’17 (Tufts), Tim Superko ’17 (Tufts), and Rob DiFranco ’16 (Bates): We do a three-for-one for a Navigators staff that relies heavily on all three NESCAC pitchers. Relievers Varinos and DiFranco are first and third on the team in ERA with a 1.74 and 2.18 respectively. Starter Superko has started six games and owns a sporty 2.57 ERA. DiFranco started the season in the Cape League, but he has returned to the Navigators for his third season there where he has bounced back from a subpar conference season this spring. Varinos has not had an opportunity to get much shine behind all the other stars for Tufts, but he has been excellent this summer coming out of the bullpen and earned a spot on the Futures League All-Star team. Finally, Superko has looked good as a starter. One concern for Superko is that his walk rate is still way to high. He has a whopping 24 walks in only 28 innings.

Chad Martin '16
Chad Martin ’16

North Shore Navigators First Baseman Chad Martin ’16 (Bowdoin): Martin has been pretty much the same player he was this spring but with less power. He has benefited from playing every day as he leads the Navigators in at bats with 148, more than he had all spring. Hitting in the middle of the lineup has provided Martin plenty of opportunities to drive runs in and he is second on the team with 23 RBIs while batting .291. Martin has been especially hot lately with multiple hits in his four of his last five games and at least one hit in eight of his last nine.

Brockton Rox Pitcher Andrew David ’16 (Tufts) and Martha’s Vineyard Sharks Zach Brown ’18 (Tufts): Both of these Tufts pitchers are going to be at the All-Star game tonight (it’s in Lynn if anyone is interested!) along with Varinos meaning the Jumbos have a full triumvirate on the squad. For David, this summer has been a continuation of a bounce back spring for him in the NESCAC. The key has been a newfound ability to strike guys out, and he has 25 Ks in 31 innings to propel him to a 2.32 ERA. Brown is having a sensational summer as a starter after being a reliever for most of the spring. He has started six games, his only appearances, and has a sparkling 1.74 ERA. Brown is in the same mold of Superko as a guy who gets a lot of strikeouts but also walks a lot of guys. If he can carry over his pitching from this summer into the rotation next spring, the Jumbos will have a top three of him, David and Superko which is pretty formidable especially given all the pitching Tufts has lost in the last two years.

Soren Hanson '16
Soren Hanson ’16

Martha’s Vineyard Sharks Soren Hanson ’16 (Colby): By chance I saw Hanson pitch last Thursday against the Nashua Silver Knights. He went 6.2 innings and allowed only one run, though he did not collect the win. Hanson relied heavily on his curveball, throwing it early in counts to get called strikes and not just swings and misses. The start brought his overall ERA to 3.43, the lowest it has been since after his first start of the season. Hanson has not been hitting at all this season unlike he did for Colby, leaving that instead for his teammates and fellow NESCAC players Wesleyan shortstop Guy Davidson ’16 and Jack Roberts ’17. In fact, along with Williams catcher and Nothing But NESCAC contributor Adam Dulsky ’18, the Sharks have four NESCAC players on the roster. Hey, you can’t call NESCAC players stupid. Who wouldn’t want to spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard playing baseball?

Andrew Yin ’15 and Donnie Cimino ’15: May Players of the Month

Donnie Cimino '15 - Westwood, NJ
Donnie Cimino ’15 – Westwood, NJ (Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)
Andrew Yin '15 - Potomac, MD
Andrew Yin ’15 – Potomac, MD (Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics)

 

We interrupt your summer beach-going (or retreat to the fireplace the last two days if you live in the Northeast) to bring you the final Player of the Month for the spring. We couldn’t figure out how to give it to just one person, so we did the easy thing and gave it to the two table setters in the Wesleyan lineup.

Andrew Yin ’15 and Donnie Cimino ’15 have been mainstays in the Wesleyan lineup from the very beginning of their freshmen year. Cimino started every single game he could in a Cardinal uniform, 163 games in all. Yin was never far behind starting 150 over his career. Until Yin had to be held out of a game against Mitchell this season, the two had started 109 games consecutively together dating back to the first game of their sophomore year. That might not seem like much next to the 2,632 consecutive games Cal Ripken Jr. played, but for the NESCAC it is quite the feat.

Both of them got off to somewhat slow starts this season, not that it mattered much considering how good the Cards’ pitching was for the first half. As Wesleyan entered the playoff section of their season, Cimino and Yin recovered and played some of their finest baseball. During the month of May they tore the cover off the ball. Combined the two hit 41-89 (.460) and had an OBP of .515. They both finished the year with 10-game hitting streaks, though Yin’s season was cut short as he missed the final two games of the Cardinals’ NCAA Regional. Their Mays were uncannily similar. Both walked five times and stole six bases while getting caught stealing once. Yin had nine runs and four RBI while Cimino had nine RBI and four runs.

They were best during the NESCAC tournament when they reached base 20 out of the 39 times they came to the plate. In the climactic winner-take-all game against Amherst, the two both had three-hit days. Yin in particular was the star with three doubles, two runs, and one RBI. That RBI came on a double down the right field line that scored Ellis Schaefer ’17 for the tying run in the Top of the 9th. In the times when runs were the most at a premium, the duo found ways to get on base at an exceptional clip.

Also, don’t overlook the defensive accomplishments of these two. Cimino covered an insane amount of ground in center, something he also did well on the football field. He also committed only one error on the year. Yin was a sure-handed second baseman who turned more double plays (23) than any other middle infielder in the league. They were two cogs in a stellar defense that was just as important a part of Wesleyan’s success as their pitching or hitting.

Cimino’s career accomplishments are significant of course. The Hartford Courant did a good job of diving deep into his entire four-year, two-sport athletic career. In terms of baseball, he leaves with 240 hits over the course of his career, the all-time record at Wesleyan. As mentioned above, he never missed a game. He came to play every single day with a passion for the game. Throughout his career he has hit anywhere from the leadoff spot to the three hole consistently. Though he never hit for a lot of power, he used his speed to be a weapon.

Yin could not quite match the gaudy statistics Cimino put up, but he was far from a slouch. His sophomore year he was first team All-NESCAC, and he hit above .300 all four years. Also, the most impressive part of Yin’s career at Wesleyan came off of the diamond. He was an absolute stud in academics garnering back-to-back CoSIDA baseball All-American First Team honors. What did he do to earn that award, you ask? Nothing much, except for TRIPLE majoring in chemistry, molecular biology & biochemistry, and neuroscience & behavior. Just completing a degree with those three majors (some of the hardest the school offers) would be noteworthy, but Yin did it with a 4.01 GPA!!! We don’t even quite understand how he got that final .01 added at the end. We do know that it is one of the most impressive accomplishments we have heard of at a NESCAC school.

Meting out individual credit for Wesleyan’s success has always been hard because different guys always seem to come up for them. And their pitching and defense has been the biggest reason why the Cardinals captured consecutive NESCAC titles. So in the end I couldn’t settle on just one player but settled on these two. They were the most dynamic top of the lineup in the league, and they were absolute constants throughout their time at Wesleyan. Down the stretch the two were instrumental in bringing another NESCAC title to Middletown, and for that they are our May Players of the Month.

Once Is Nice, but Twice … Wesleyan Repeats: Stock Report 5/12

What an incredible weekend of NESCAC baseball. From Friday afternoon until Sunday evening, the boys left it all out on the field. Every game offered drama and intrigue right up until the end. In six of the seven games played at last weekend’s NESCAC Championship, the tying run was at-bat or on-base when the final out was made. Stellar pitching performances were the norm, but there was plenty of going yard, too. At some point I lost track of how many diving catches had been made because it seemed like there was at least one every other inning. All in all, nobody left Nashua, NH without some moment where their team was firing on all cylinders.

In the end, the Wesleyan Cardinals were again the last team left standing as they captured their second consecutive NESCAC title. Though it ended just as most expected it to, the tournament was an absolute nail-biter. The final game between Amherst and Wesleyan was one of the wildest baseball games I have watched at any level. Consider that Wesleyan entered the ninth down one run with the bottom of their lineup coming up and Amherst ace John Cook ’15 on the mound. Consider that Ethan Rode ’17, the winning pitcher, had thrown two innings since Wesleyan’s spring break trip before he took the mound in the 11th. Consider that the Cardinals had to escape bases loaded jams in back-to-back innings just to get to the 12th inning.

The Cardinals came into Sunday feeling comfortable in their one game advantage over Amherst, but just as in 2014, Wesleyan lost the first game of the day to set up a deciding final game. Entering the Bottom of the seventh, Wesleyan looked like they were in control up 2-0 with Peter Rantz ’16 allowing only two hits through six innings. Then Mike Odenwaelder ’16 hit a solo homer to lead off the inning. Whatever, Wesleyan still had the lead. They just needed to get out of the inning…

That white speck right above Marco Baratta's glove is Sam Ellinwood's home run. (Courtesy of Northeast Sports Network)
That white speck right above Marco Baratta’s glove is Sam Ellinwood’s home run to put Amherst up 3-2 in the final game against Wesleyan. (Courtesy of Northeast Sports Network)

Then suddenly ecstasy for Amherst as the above Sam Ellinwood ’18 homer put the Jeffs up by one. Yet not one person in the Wesleyan dugout thought they were going to lose that game for a moment. According to captain Donnie Cimino ’15, ” There was no doubt in any of our minds. We are such a close team and have been through many victories and losses.” Pitcher Gavin Pittore ’16 echoed that sentiment citing the leadership of the seniors on this team. The Cardinals never stopped believing that they would find a way, any way. And in the ninth, when Amherst gave an inch, the Cardinals jumped. When Cook hit Ellis Schaefer ’17 with one out, Manager Mark Woodworth put on the hit and run for Andrew Yin ’15 and Schaefer. On an outside fastball, Yin just stuck his bat out and floated one down the right field line. Schaefer raced all the way around and the game was tied. Wesleyan would go on to win in 12 innings, and for a second consecutive year they piled out of the dugout for a victory dogpile.

If there is one characteristic to describe these Cardinals from the past two years, it is grittiness. After the Cards grabbed the 2014 NESCAC Championship, we wrote, “Wesleyan won games by never backing down in big spots.” The same is true for 2015, of course. The final game on Sunday was the perfect representation of a team that consistently finds a way to win close games. That it came against Amherst, their longtime rival and formerly a team that would regularly beat down on Wesleyan makes it all the sweeter for them. This team loves to show their confidence and celebrates with a swagger. At this point, they know they are special and want more. Pittore says a repeat NESCAC championship was just the beginning. In the 150th year of Wesleyan baseball, the Cards are hoping to add some more hardware to the University trophy case. Pittore says, “We’ve made it our mission not to settle. We know we have a special team and anything short of a World Series appearance is a disappointment. Our goal is to make Wesleyan University team 150 a team to remember.”

Now for a quick Stock Report.

 Stock Up

Shortstop Guy Davidson ’16 (Wesleyan)

This is a Stock Down and then back Up in one weekend for Davidson. Because when you go 2-17 through 99 percent of the weekend in the three hole, you definitely can’t say you had a great weekend overall. However, Davidson made all of that go away with one huge swing to hit the eventual game winning home run in the top of the 12th. With Odenwaelder on the mound for the first time all season for Amherst, Davidson led off the 12th thinking one thing only: fastball. That was what he got and boy did Davidson not miss. The home run was a no doubter as soon as it left the bat. Sitting fastball for the first pitch of the inning was the right move all the way, but it is also easy in a situation like that to get too excited when you get your pitch and swing out of your shoes. Davidson stayed calm and delivered a NESCAC title with it.

Amherst

Though the majority of this article is concentrating on Wesleyan and their victory, don’t forget how close Amherst came to the win. On Sunday they were eager to avenge their regular season sweep and loss in the second round of the tournament to the Cardinals. The knock on Amherst the last two years is that they haven’t been able to win the close games, but that was not the case this weekend, the final game notwithstanding. They got great pitching performances from guys up and down the roster from Sam Schneider ’18 to Keenan Szulik ’16. Their defense, long a problem, was good all weekend. They came as close as possible as you can to winning a league title, and they didn’t even have players like Odenwaelder and Andrew Vandini ’16 hit all that well. The Jeffs are heading to New York for their regional and should be able to make some noise.

Stock Down

Amherst Base Running

Of all the chances Amherst had to win (of which there were many) that final game, the bottom of the 10th was perhaps their best. Cooney was on the mound, but he was clearly struggling with his control and had barely gotten out of the ninth inning. After Yanni Thanopoulos ’17 singled and Anthony Spina ’17 got reached on a HBP, the Jeffs had runners on first and second with one out. Then Thanopoulos made the mistake of getting picked off second and getting caught in a rundown. Thanopoulos should have been more cautious in that situation, especially with Cooney so clearly struggling with his command. If Thanopoulos could have gotten a good read on a ball in the dirt and reached third with one out, Amherst almost certainly wins that game, but you don’t help out a pitcher who can’t get the ball over the plate consistently. As it was, Cooney walked the next two hitters to load the bases with two outs before getting a fly out to escape the inning. Thanopoulos had an excellent tournament batting .400 and stealing four bases, but that mistake was costly.

Tufts

Those in Medford are fuming about missing out on making the NCAA tournament. That came after they had a tough weekend dropping two close games. The Bates game, especially, they feel like they gave away since the Bobcats scored eight runs in the first two innings before the Jumbos almost came all the way back and ended up leading them loaded in the eighth inning down one run. We warned a couple of weeks ago about the danger of Tufts or Amherst missing the tournament. Then, Tufts was left out of the Top-10 of the NCAA Regional Rankings before last weekend. They likely needed a win against Amherst and possibly one other win in the tournament to have a shot at the tournament. Their weekend performance left them well short of that goal. In the end, D3Baseball.com and others didn’t even consider the Jumbos on the bubble for the tournament despite their great overall record. They got no help from their NESCAC East counterparts as three of those four teams finished with records below .500. That hurt Tufts’ overall Strength of Schedule. Disappointing ending for a team that looked great entering the year but never was at full strength because of injuries to Kyle Slinger ’15.

 

Wesleyan Remains on Top: Stock Report 4/27

Bowdoin celebrates their 7-4 win over Colby in the first game of their series. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)
Bowdoin celebrates its 7-4 win over Colby in the first game of their series last weekend. (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)

After spending the first month of the NESCAC schedule beating up on the rest of the NESCAC West, Wesleyan and Amherst met this weekend to settle who would finish on top in the division. The answer was quite a resounding one in favor of the Cardinals. They dominated the Friday game racing out to a 10-0 lead before Amherst scored five runs late to make the final score look closer. On Saturday, Wesleyan completely shut down the Amherst offense winning 1-0 and 2-0.

The series meant little in practical terms because both teams were making the playoffs regardless, but this was a huge win for the Wesleyan program. First of all, it clinched a third consecutive Little Three Title. Secondly, the weekend reinforced that the Cardinals are the best overall program in the league right now.

The gap between this Wesleyan team and the rest of the NESCAC is sizable, but it certainly isn’t an uncrossable chasm. The Cardinals are winning because they are a more complete team, but they tend to play close games. They rely on their pitching and defense much more than their hitting, and if a team can find a way to string a few hits together, we will see them lose at some point.

Stock Up

Wesleyan Starting Pitching

The principal reason for the sweep was the trio of Nick Cooney ’15, Sam Elias ’15 and Gavin Pittore ’16. The three had almost identical starts, all of which were extremely impressive. Cooney set the tone on Friday when he went seven scoreless innings working around four walks. Pittore got stronger as the second game went along and retired 15 of the final 16 batters. Then Elias ended things by going all nine innings and faced only two batters more than the minimum. All three have pitched like legitimate aces this year, and both Pittore and Elias own ERAs below 2.00. Cooney has also been fantastic except for one rough start against Pomona-Pitzer. All three are also exceptional at going deep into games and average more than six innings per start. That ability to go deep into games has helped Wesleyan hide their only potential weakness: lack of pitching depth. Only nine players have pitched innings for the Cardinals this year. No other NESCAC school is in the single digits.

Drama in the East

As expected, that race for the second spot in the East has descended into near chaos. Worth it to go look at the standings, but Bates is still in the second spot at 4-4 with four games still to play. Bowdoin and Trinity are still also in the mix at 5-6 and 4-5 respectively. There is a crucial game on Tuesday night as Bowdoin and Bates are meeting to finish up their series. Obviously the game is a must-win for Bowdoin, which kept its playoff hopes alive by taking two of three from Colby this weekend. As for Bates, they had a chance to get close to locking up their playoff spot after taking the first game of their series against Tufts. However, since they lost the next two games to drop to 4-4, they fell back into the confusion. We won’t know who captures the spot until Saturday when Bates and Trinity play their doubleheader.

Starting Pitcher Jjay Lane ’15 (Hamilton)

This year has been a tough one for Lane overall, but he came up huge for the Continentals this weekend. He had been roughed up in his first two starts in conference, but he found a way to come up huge on Saturday. He got the start in the series opener against Williams and was able to go eight innings allowing two runs and Hamilton won 3-2. Lane had success in part because he was able to finally strike some people out. Before Saturday, he had not struck out ONE batter since March 17, an eternity for the NESCAC baseball season. Then out of nowhere he struck out six Williams batters which quadrupled his season total. Cole Dreyfuss ’16 continued his fantastic pitching in the next game to give Hamilton the sweep of the Saturday doubleheader. This is a resilient group, and they will be hungry to hand Wesleyan their first conference loss next weekend.

Stock Down

Williams

Disappointing finish for the Ephs dropping two of their three games to Hamilton and dropping to 4-8 for the year. They lost seven of their last eight after starting the conference season by sweeping Middlebury. That makes now two of the last three years that Williams has finished at 4-8 and well outside of the playoff race. We were hoping for more balance this year from Williams, and they did end up being more balanced though not quite like we were hoping them to be. The offense came up just short in the a lot of spots where the pitching was good enough to give the team a chance. The good news is that the top four OBP performers on the team were all sophomores and freshmen. Adam Dulsky ’18 will be able to take over full time catching duties which will ease the departure of Phil McGovern ’15. Also, the easiest place for Williams to improve is their fielding which also cost them a couple of games.

Defensive Karma

Well, in a way this is a stock up, but I’m sure Colby would consider it a negative. A year ago Bowdoin saw their playoff chances come crashing down when an error against Colby extended an inning and allowed the Mules to score four more runs. This year a Colby error in the top of the second let Bowdoin score four runs in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader. Three consecutive two out hits from Sean Mullaney ’17, Chris Cameron ’15 and Erik Jacobsen ’15 were the straws that … wait for it … broke the Mules back. Colby ended up falling 5-3 and the loss brought them to 4-7 and officially out of the playoff race. They were our pick to capture that final playoff spot, but they will miss the playoffs because they were not able to sustain the pitching gains they made a year ago.

NCAA Tournament Chances

I have to confess that I know little about the inner workings of the Division-III NCAA Baseball tournament. In part because it takes place during Finals or the beginning of summer vacation, I have never gotten very invested in the results the same way I do the basketball tournament. Still, I have to think the NESCAC will have trouble matching the three teams that made the tournament last year. Wesleyan should be solidly in, but both Tufts and Amherst have worse resumes than they did a year ago. Useful tool to look at is the D3Baseball.com Strength of Schedule Page. From that we can tell Tufts and Amherst have opposite problems. The Jumbos own a gaudy win-loss record but are only 125 in SOS while Amherst has a good SOS but lacks the record. My gut says that only one of those two teams is going to make it depending on who finishes stronger the next few weekends (and assuming that Wesleyan can repeat as NESCAC champs).

Ranking the Individual Team MVP’s Thus Far

Mike Odenwaelder '16 has thrived in his junior year. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)
Mike Odenwaelder ’16 has thrived in his junior year. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)

When I started to put together the Power Rankings for this week, I realized something important. Not much has really changed. While we still don’t know how things are going to shake out in the East, so far things have played out predictably and we have a good idea on how good each team is. So I decided to switch things up and go back and figure out who the MVP for each team was. Then once I had those settled, I went back in and ranked each player in order of performance so far this year. Just for kicks, I put the team’s Power Ranking from two weeks ago next to it just to give you an idea of how they match up.

10. Catcher Max Araya ’16 (.317/.442/.349): Middlebury (Team Rank: 10): Admit it, you were expecting Dylan Sinnickson ’15 in this spot. However, Sinnickson has come back to earth after that earth-shattering start. He hasn’t hit a home run since Middlebury’s third game of the year and has an OBP of .286 in NESCAC games. Araya, meanwhile, has continued his year-to-year improvement and stepped into full-time catching duties with great success. Offensively, Araya leads the Panthers with 11 bases on balls (and no one else is particularly close) and generally puts the ball in play with authority. The one thing lacking from his offensive game is a bit more pop, as he has just two extra base hits on the year. But Araya really gets the nod here for his work behind the dish, where has has emerged as one of the league’s best defensive backstops.

9. Shortstop Jack Roberts ’17 (.386/.429/.542, 0 HR, 19 RBI): Williams (Team Rank: 7): As a group the Williams’ offense has taken a step back from a year ago, but that has not stopped Roberts from cementing himself as one of the better players in the league. He rarely walks, but that isn’t his role as the three hitter. Roberts fits the mold of the team’s best athlete playing shortstop given his speed has allowed him to steal five bags and propelled him to four triples, tied for the league lead. His production has slipped ever so slightly in conference, but not by an alarming amount.

8. Right Fielder Nate Pajka ’15 (.353/.434/.659, 4 HR, 15 RBI): Bates (Team Rank: 5): The fact that Pajka is ranked eighth in this list is an indication of the quality of players that are to follow. After all, Pajka is fourth in the league in slugging percentage and has 14 doubles, the most in the league. In the Bobcats’ five conference games he is getting on base at a .458 clip. There isn’t really a good knock on his play either. The only reason others are above him is that they are just a smidgeon better in a couple of areas. A hit here and there really is the difference. Pajka can hold his hat on being one of the most improved players on this list; oh and that his team has a good shot at making the playoffs.

7. Starting Pitcher Sean Meekins ’15 (2-1, 1.91 ERA, 10.36 K/9, 33.0 IP): Trinity (Team Rank: 8): Yes, we are proud of our own Nothing but NESCAC contributor, but don’t accuse us of any type of bias. I think the sub-2.00 ERA speaks for itself after all. He is striking out gobs of hitters and still working late into games, a somewhat rare and valuable combination. He had been struggling a little in his previous couple of starts before getting back on track and throwing that gem on Saturday against Bowdoin. A year ago Meekins was an average starter in what amounted to an average rotation, but in 2015 Meekins, and the staff as a whole, has raised their level of play.

6. Starting Pitcher/First Basman Soren Hanson ’16 (.326/.380/.565 and 4-0, 1.78 ERA): Colby (Team Rank: 4): Hanson get serious consideration merely for his work on the bump, and when you add in his hitting contributions it is clear how important he is to Colby. Like another pitcher we will see in a bit, all three of his team’s NESCAC wins have come in Hanson’s starts. He is hitting only .263 in conference, but he is also second in RBI over that stretch so his timely hitting makes up for it somewhat. Why don’t we see more two-way players in the NESCAC? I’m not really sure, but Hanson is the best one going this year.

5. Pitcher Sam Elias ’15 (5-0, 3 Saves, 1.94 ERA, 41.2 IP, 9.94 K/9): Wesleyan (Team Rank: 1): One of several seniors to raise his game in his final season, Elias has been pulling double duty for Wesleyan as both a starter and reliever. A year ago he started only one game but was still a big part of the Cardinals success appearing in 19 games and throwing more than 40 innings. This year he has been the best pitcher on Wesleyan, which is saying something considering Gavin Pittore ’16 and Peter Rantz ’16 have ERA’s right at 2.20. Elias, like all the other Wesleyan pitchers, certainly benefits from Wesleyan having the best defense in the league, but don’t let that diminish his accomplishments. That Elias is only fifth but Wesleyan is clearly the best team in the league to this point is just another representation of the depth the Cardinals possess.

4. Center Fielder Joe Jensen ’15 (.419/.470/.568, 1 HR, 10 RBI): Hamilton (Team Rank: 9): Jensen was the original inspiration for this list because he is the player with the most obvious disparity between his team and his own personal performance. Not that there aren’t others playing very well for Hamilton this season, but as a group the Continentals have not been able to take a step forward. Jensen has not delivered on the power that we thought would come this season after he hit a home run in his first game of the year. But he has continued to run wild on the basepaths with 14 steals which is sort of incredible when you consider that everybody knows he is going to run. Though he has come back down a little recently, Jensen is still having his finest season yet as a senior.

3. Tufts: Catcher Bryan Egan ’15 (.402/.510/.573, 2 HR, 36 RBI: Tufts (Team Rank: 3): When I was putting this list together, this was the one that I had the hardest time slotting in. Ultimately Egan landed higher than I thought he ever would. At first I thought Tommy O’Hara ’18 was a clear choice for MVP for Tufts, but then I looked again at the conference stats for Tufts and noticed that Egan had an incredible .571 AVG. Also, did I mention that Egan is a catcher who wasn’t even a starter a year ago. Even though he has not thrown many runners out, he deserves some credit for shepherding the Tufts’ staff. At the end of the day, Egan has hit his best in the games that matter the most which is why he ended up so high on this list.

2. Starting Pitcher Henry Van Zant ’15 (5-1, 1.26 ERA, 37 K, 43.0 IP): Bowdoin (Team Rank: 6): We saw a big year coming for Van Zant, but we didn’t see this type of dominance on the horizon. He leads the league in ERA, and that number gets even better when you isolate for just NESCAC games where he has an 0.82 ERA. All three of Bowdoin’s conference wins have come in games that he has started, and you can chalk up their 1-0 non-conference win over Wesleyan to his complete game shutout, too. Van Zant looks poised to follow in the steps of his older brother, Oliver Van Zant ’13 and win NESCAC Pitcher of the Year honors.

1. Center Fielder Mike Odenwaelder ’16 (.444/.521/.697, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 8 SB): Amherst Team Rank: 2): You probably saw this one coming from the beginning. Nobody else in the NESCAC has the combination of size, power, speed and whatever else it is that makes some baseball players so good. Odenwaelder is both tied for the league lead in homers and leads the league in OBP, pretty decent for a guy who has eight steals to boot. Now consider the fact that I spent 30 seconds considering putting Harry Roberson ’18 in this slot instead of Odenwaelder. Gives you an idea of the type of year that the freshman is having. Odenwaelder is a special player who you don’t see very often come through the NESCAC.

A Tale of Two Divisions: Stock Report 4/6

As we thought would be the case, the hierarchies of the East and West divisions look very different. While the West is owned by a couple of heavyweights, the East is a morass with teams jockeying every week for position.

Out West, Amherst and Wesleyan flexed their muscles in a big way with each team earning a sweep this weekend over Middlebury and Williams, respectively. The Amherst offense looked straight up scary against Middlebury. Williams getting swept by Wesleyan means that the Ephs now will have to win their series against Amherst to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. Hamilton hasn’t played a NESCAC game yet, but they do not appear to have the pitching to seriously compete for a playoff spot. Amherst and Wesleyan look like they will both be headed back to the postseason in a playoff race that what will lack for drama.

Fortunately for us, the race for the second spot in the East is getting juicier by the day. Colby has jumped to the front of the line at the moment after taking two of three from Trinity. Bates and Bowdoin are right there close behind them, and the Bantams are still thinking they have a shot at the playoffs. Even Tufts will have to play well in order to keep from falling back to the pack. The East standings have Tufts and Colby at the top for now.

Stock Up

Starting Pitcher Gavin Pittore ’16 (Wesleyan)

In a weekend where offense ruled overall, Pittore was stellar in the second game of Wesleyan’s series. He pitched a complete seven inning game and shut down the Williams lineup completely. He allowed only one unearned run. The start drops his ERA to 2.67 for the year. A big key for Pittore is his control. He has walked only two batters per nine innings, and likes to attack hitters early in the count. In his four stars so far, he has averaged nearly seven innings which has been helpful to the Cardinals who have to rely on their starting catcher Nick Miceli ’17 as one of their top relievers. Pittore looks confident and in control so far in his junior year.

Starting Pitcher/DH Soren Hanson ’16 (Colby)

Another good pitching performance came from Hanson, who returned to play after missing the second half of Colby’s Florida trip to lead the Mules to a huge doubleheader sweep of Trinity to take the series against the Bantams. In the first game Hanson was on the mound for all seven innings and allowed no runs on only four hits and two walks. Then in the second game he went 1-3 and scored two runs to help Colby win 5-3. Hanson is one of a few two-way players in the NESCAC right now, but no team relies so heavily on them to perform as Colby does. In limited at-bats so far, Hanson has an OBP of .450. When he is in the lineup he usually bats cleanup, but on Saturday when he was pitching, Colby kept him out of the lineup. That allowed him to focus on pitching, something he did quite well.

Shortstop Matt Moser ’16 (Tufts)

We probably won’t see a better stat line for a single game than what Moser put up Saturday in a non-conference game against Brandeis. He went 5-5 with four runs, eight RBI, and three (three!) home runs. Tufts went bonkers as a team scoring 28 runs in only seven innings of play. Moser was the star, however. The junior had been enjoying a very productive but somewhat quiet season thus far with other players like Tommy O’Hara ’18 and Bryan Egan ’15 grabbing more of the hitting headlines. Now suddenly he sits in the top five in the NESCAC for a lot of different hitting categories. Unlike most of the Tufts roster, he doesn’t walk very often and swings at almost everything. Like many other shortstops, Moser has his fair share of errors, but not many other shortstops are able to hit for power like Moser can.

Stock Down

Williams’ Base Running

Down 7-5 entering the final inning of the third game against Wesleyan, the Ephs managed to get two runners on with two outs. Adam Dulsky ’18 singled to right and Luke Pierce ’15, the lead runner, scored to make it 7-6, but the trail runner, pinch-runner Lev Schecter ’18 was gunned out at third on a great throw from right fielder Ben Hoynes ’15. The general rule in baseball is never to make the first or third out of the inning at third base, but hard to fault Schecter in that situation. Give the credit to Hoynes for making a money throw in a pressure situation. One of the major reasons why Wesleyan is the clear favorite right now is because they have experience at every position and are not relying on underclassmen in crucial situations.

 Bowdoin Defense

After winning the first game of their doubleheader against Bates 15-4, the Polar Bears saw their defense let them down and lost the second game 9-5 to drop to 2-3 in the NESCAC now. Four different players committed errors which led to three unearned runs. The loss for Bowdoin is a big set back for them. The Polar Bears have lost the three NESCAC games not started by Henry Van Zant ’15, and their offense has fluctuated wildly between very good and mediocre. Besides Van Zant, the rest of the Bowdoin staff relies on the defense to make plays behind them. Their defense had actually been one of the better ones in the NESCAC before yesterday, but now Bowdoin is going to have to finish strong to return to the playoffs.

Trinity

The opening NESCAC weekend for Trinity confirmed that last year was not some weird fluke; the Bantams are a flawed team that has fallen back to the pack. The walk-off home run by Daniel Pidgeon ’16 in the first game against Colby looked like a huge moment, but the Bantams squandered the opportunity by dropping both games on Saturday. Their offense went cold which has been the overarching problem for Trinity. As a team Trinity has the lowest OBP and Slugging Percentage in the NESCAC. The Bantams have now lost five straight NESCAC series with their last win coming all the way back in 2013. Trinity has a huge series coming up against Tufts this weekend. They need to win at least one of those games if they want to make a push for the playoffs.