Amherst is primed and ready to take the crown back to Amherst again, but that will be no easy task after some big losses, including injured quarterback Reece Foy (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics).
Editor’s note: Liam O’Neil is one of our newest writers, and he will be taking on one of our newer features, a weekly “Top 10.” Liam hails from southern Connecticut and has loads of home state pride, which I anticipate will show in his writing. Enjoy Liam’s first article for NBN.
With the 2016-2017 NESCAC football season quickly approaching, it’s time to take a look at which games you should have circled on your calendar. Like most years, the landscape of the NESCAC should remain the same with perennial powers Amherst and Trinity as the overwhelming favorites to win the league. Tufts and Wesleyan are both dark horse contenders and Middlebury should round out the top 5. From there, there is a steep drop in quality teams which further promotes the notion that in relation to football, the ‘CAC is a league of two tiers. Anyhow, whether or not they are played for championship ramifications, tradition, or just plain bragging rights, here are the top 10 games to watch for the 2016-2017 season.
#10) Bowdoin @ Colby (November 12th)
While neither team will be a title contender, the rivalry between Bowdoin and Colby is important to both schools and the state of Maine as a whole. On the final week of the season, look for both teams to try and end their year on a high and improve upon disappointing campaigns in 2015.
#9) Bates @ Bowdoin (November 5th)
The CBB Championship should be determined on November 5th when Bates travels to face Bowdoin. I recently saw a joint-practice with Bowdoin and Tufts and while the Polar Bears looked sharp in “7 on 7,” once the action turned to “11 on 11” it quickly became apparent that Bowdoin lacks the size and strength on the interior lines to compete with the league’s best. As of right now, neither team is talented enough to contend for for a NESCAC championship, so for the moment, the CBB trophy will have to suffice.
#8) Middlebury @ Hamilton (November 5th)
The scheduling gods must hate Hamilton. The Continentals have the pleasure of traveling to Amherst and Wesleyan in weeks 1 and 2 and hosting Trinity in week 3. While the team has made great strides under third year coach Dave Murray, I don’t see them escaping their early season gauntlet with a win. Luckily for Hamilton, things get a little easier after week 3. So much so in fact that I predict the Conts’ will be riding a three game win streak into their week 7 matchup with Middlebury. The Panthers lost reigning NESCAC player of the year Matt Milano (Connecticut guy) to graduation and could be ripe for the upset in this game. If Hamilton can find a way to win, it will show they’re for real.
#7) Williams @ Amherst (November 12th)
Amherst should roll in this game, but I would have felt bad not including “The Biggest Little Game in America” on this list. As the longest active rivalry in history, it’s always great to see the conference get a shout out on College Gameday. Plus, the game is aired on NESN which is just one small step away from primetime ESPN. Speaking of Williams, the cupboard isn’t exactly bare. The Ephs have fallen on tough times as of late but I always thought their struggles could be attritubuted more to poor game planning and less to a lack of talent. Expect that to change as former St. Lawrence head coach Mark Raymond takes the reigns in Williamstown.
#6) Amherst @ Middlebury (October 8th)
As a team looking to replace several key players, Middlebury could not have picked two better teams to open their season with. The Panthers host Bowdoin in Week 1 and travel to Colby in Week 2 which means that QB Jared Lebowitz will have a couple soft matchups to settle into his new role as the starter before a big tilt vs. Amherst. Both teams should be unbeaten coming into this game and it will add a little excitement in what looks to be an otherwise mundane week 3.
#5) Amherst @ Wesleyan (October 22nd)
Worst case scenario is a 4-0 Amherst traveling to play a 3-1 Wesleyan. But if Wesleyan beats Tufts in the opener, it will be a battle of unbeatens. Regardless, this should be the best team Amherst will have faced to this point.
#4) Tufts @ Trinity (October 15th)
In last years contest Trinity QB Sonny Puzzo engineered a frantic last minute drive to send the game into overtime. While the Bantams prevailed in OT, Tufts was literally seconds away from dropping a monumental upset. Tufts has its best team in school history but the Jumbos won’t be sneaking up on anyone. With this year’s contest being at Trinity, I’d say the Bantams will have the edge.
#3) Trinity @ Wesleyan (November 12th)
The game between Trinity and Wesleyan will be the marquee matchup in week 8. Both schools have a longstanding tradition of playing each other the final week of the season, and this year’s tilt could have serious championship implications. It’s not out of the question to think a one loss Wesleyan could upset undefeated Trinity in the last week and send the whole league into chaos.
#2) Wesleyan @ Tufts (September 24th)
On September 24th under the lights in Medford, MA, one team’s championship hopes will crumble. Wesleyan is coming off a disappointing campaign that saw them go 5-3. However, the Cardinals led by “Mr. Everything” Devon Carrillo (Connecticut guy), are more mature and hungrier than ever. On the other hand, this year’s Tufts team is the most talented squad coach Jay Civetti has ever fielded. The Jumbos are loaded with upperclassmen at key positions. If Tufts can contain Carillo, they should win a close one. But then again, that’s a pretty tough task…
#1) Amherst @ Trinity (November 5th)
For the second year in a row, the NESCAC championship should come down to the week 7 matchup between Amherst and Trinity. Amherst is riding a 19 game win streak into this upcoming season and they should still be undefeated coming into this game. You’ve gotta think it makes Coach Jeff Devanney crazy to see his Trinity teams have to take a back seat the last couple of years. The game should be an all out battle and in a conference that lacks a championship game, November 5th at the Coop will be as good as it gets.
Before I get into POY discussion, I’m happy to announce that Pete Lindholm, one of our writers from Middlebury, is going to be joining me this year as co-head of NBN. Pete has written for the site a bunch in the past, and it’s clear that he is both extremely invested and extremely talented. Thanks to Pete for agreeing to take on the role of Managing Editor this year. Again, if anyone reading this is interested in helping out with the site in any way, please shoot Pete and I an email at nothingbutnescac@gmail.com and we’d be more than happy to discuss different positions with you. Now, on to NESCAC Football….
Trinity RB Max Chipouras almost beat out Chance Brady ’17 for the award last season. Is 2016 his year?(Courtesy of Greg Sullivan)
It’s never too early to start thinking about the NESCAC Player of the Year race, so I’ve compiled a list of some of the conference’s top players here below. Some are old names, some are new ones, but one thing is true across the board: all of these guys are studs. Check out the following list of guys to keep an eye on in 2016.
Offense
Chance Brady ’17 (Courtesy of Tufts Athletics)
RB Chance Brady ’17, Tufts
You can’t not throw the reigning POY into the conversation, but even if I wasn’t aware that Brady had won the award last year, there would be no debate that he should be in the conversation for this award. He ran for 975 yards last year, averaging 121.9 YPG on his way to scoring 11 touchdowns. The kid is an absolute grinder, and barring injury, he will be in POY consideration as we get to the end of the season.
Max Chipouras ’19 (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics).
RB Max Chipouras ’19, Trinity
Chipouras is the only player that gave Brady a run for his money last year, and also the only player in the conference to score more touchdowns than Brady with 12. Though he ran for about 300 yards less than Tufts’ stud back, Chipouras also had 49 less touches. Chipouras averaged 4.7 yards per carry and 81.1 yards per game last year – as a freshman no less! Now that he’s got a year of college ball under his belt, expect Chipouras to absolutely take off. I’m not saying he’s the favorite to win POY, but I’m not not saying it.
Sonny Puzzo ’18 (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics).
QB Sonny Puzzo ’18, Trinity
Last year, Puzzo came behind only Matt Milano ‘16 and Austin Lommen ‘16 in passing yards, both of whom graduated in May. With Amherst quarterback Reece Foy ‘18 likely out for the year after blowing out his knee, Tufts’ Alex Snyder ‘17 boasts the next highest total of passing yards, which Puzzo tops 220.1 YPG to 179.4 YPG. What held Puzzo back in 2015 was not his ability to completed passes, but rather the fact that he completed passes to opposing players at a rather high clip, totaling 8 interceptions on the year as opposed to just 5 touchdowns. If Puzzo can do a better job of taking care of the ball, he has all the tools he needs to have a POY type of season, especially if his adversaries focus most of their energy on shutting down Chipouras.
Jabari Hurdle-Price ’17 (Courtesy of Colby Athletics).
RB Jabari Hurdle-Price ’17, Colby
If you look at Hurdle-Price’s numbers in 2015, it’s hard to tell what kind of player he is. On one hand, he ran for 91.0 YPG, the second highest rushing average in the league. On the other hand, he had the most touches in the league with 189 carries, so it seems like he probably should be racking up rush yards. Even with that many carries (two more than Brady), however, Hurdle-Price was 247 yards shy of Brady in overall yards, and also had 5 less touchdowns. I have no doubt that Hurdle-Price has the ability to make a leap in efficiency this year, but that is partially up to the Colby offensive line. If the Mules can put Hurdle-Price in positions to succeed with good field position and effective blocking, their workhorse will not fail them.
Charles Ensley ’17 (Courtesy of Hamilton Athletics).
WR Charles Ensley ’17, Hamilton
Throw Ensley on the championship roster and I think he gets the POY nod without question, but being on a bottom half team the last few years has definitely held him back in the POY discussion. Other than Matt Minno ‘16 of Middlebury, no one has more receiving yards or receiving touchdowns than Ensley, and he ranked just eighth in receptions last year! What that should tell you is that Ensley has absolute wheels, which is why is 78 yard reception last year against Middlebury does not surprise me whatsoever. If the Continentals find some consistency under center with either Cole Freeman ‘18 or Brandon Tobin ‘18, Ensley will be a high-end WR1 in most fantasy leagues this fall.
Honorable Mention: RB Jaylen Berry ’18, Wesleyan; WR Bryan Vieira ’18, Trinity; TE Bryan Porter ’18, Bowdoin; RB Nick Kelly ’17, Amherst; RB Tyler Grant ’17, Bowdoin
Defense
Mark Upton ’17 (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)
LB Mark Upton ’17, Bates
Upton finished second in tackles last season with 71 from the linebacker spot. He also added 8 TFL and 4 sacks, rounded out by 3 forced fumbles. The kid has a nose for the ball, and when he has you in his crosshairs you better brace for impact. Upton rightfully earned First Team All-NESCAC honors last season, and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t at least match that performance this season.
Addison Pierce ’17 (Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics).
LB Addison Pierce ’17, Middlebury
Another linebacker, this one hailing from Middlebury, who has a knack for penetrating the backfield. Pierce had 7 TFL last season including 2 sacks, contributing to his total of 58 tackles on the season. Pierce steps in as the leader of the Middlebury linebacker committee this season after Tim Patricia ‘16 graduated in May, and I’m anticipating a breakout season for the senior looking to build on his impressive 8.3 tackles per game average. Look for Pierce to disrupt offensive flow and create chaos behind the line of scrimmage for Coach Ritter’s defense this season.
Zach Thomas ’18 (Courtesy of Tufts Athletics).
DE Zach Thomas ’18, Tufts
While Mike Stearns’ versatility makes him the most valuable player on the Tufts defense, Zach Thomas gives him a run for his money as the best defensive player for the Jumbos. Thomas led the NESCAC with 9 sacks last season – 9! That’s over a sack a game. To put that in perspective, Gil Araujo ‘16 of Middlebury was the only other player in the league with over 5.5 sacks. If I’m an opposing coach, I’m doubling Thomas on the end whenever I can, because the kid can clearly get to the quarterback. Now in his junior year, Thomas has set the bar high for himself, but I expect him to surpass expectations and continue to anchor the Jumbos defensive line along with his classmate Micah Adickes ‘18.
Justin Sanchez ’17 (Courtesy of Wesleyan Athletics).
FS Justin Sanchez ’17, Wesleyan
When you think of playmaking safeties around the league, you think of Justin Sanchez. The senior free safety led Wesleyan with 56 tackles last year, highlighting his ability to step up and make plays. Sanchez had 2 interceptions last season as well as 2 forced fumbles in 2015. This versatility is exactly what Wesleyan needs this year in their quest to climb back to the top of the conference. If Sanchez plays at his usual high level, opposing offensive coordinators will struggle with calling plays.
Liam Kenneally ’18 (Courtesy of Trinity Athletics).
LB Liam Kenneally ’18, Trinity
Kenneally is a playmaker, end of story. His 61 tackles in 2015 was the fifth highest total in the league, and led the Trinity defense by 20 tackles!! On defense that allowed just 10.1 PPG last year, Kenneally was the glue that held them together, and he will be just that player again in his junior season this year. With such a veteran presence in the secondary, teams will likely attack the Bantams on the ground, which will give Kenneally the opportunity to step up and do what he does best – make plays. Kenneally could very well win the defensive POY award, especially if Trinity’s defense is as much a force as it was last year.
Honorable Mention: DE Brent Lobien ’17, Hamilton; DB Cameron Rondeau ’19, Bowdoin; OLB Mike Stearns ’17, Tufts; LB Evan Boynton ’17, Amherst; DB Alex Brandeis ’17, Williams
Our all-time favorite photo of NESCAC sports, and there have been a lot of great ones.
Adam wrote the following good bye, and in classic fashion, it’s plenty wordy for both of us, and I agree with everything he wrote, so I’ll say my piece in two sentences. Nothing but NESCAC has been a tremendous source of pride, frustration, stress, happiness, controversy, procrastination, relationships, blood, sweat and tears (okay, I’m exaggerating – slightly), late nights, early mornings, conversation starters, angry Facebook messages and aggressive emails, and, above all, learning. If you’re reading this, thank you. – Joe MacDonald
I graduated last Saturday from Bowdoin. That fact has not really sunk in, but it’s an inescapable reality. As I say goodbye to my physical home for the past four years, I wanted to write some thoughts down about my experiences with Nothing but NESCAC and general thoughts about NESCAC sports. Consider this an open diary entry, and remember that all thoughts are my own, so you can take them with a giant grain of salt.
First, I want to thank everyone who has helped make this website possible. Thanks to the readers and people that told us how much they appreciated what we were doing. Hearing from people that they enjoyed our work was so rewarding. I especially loved to hear from players that they were reading us, even if they thought that our opinions were garbage. Another special shoutout to the members of the NESCAC DIII Boards. Knowing that the most rabid fans in the NESCAC respected our opinions – sometimes – was nice.
Thanks to all the players and coaches who let us talk to them. Those interactions made the writing so much better. The work that all NESCAC coaches and players put in behind the scenes for their sport is remarkable, but the best thing about everyone that I got to talk to was how nice everybody always was. NESCAC sports are filled with great people.
Thanks to Damon Hatheway and Jeff Hetzel for creating PantherNation and serving as our inspiration for Nothing but NESCAC. Being able to get started writing for you was the best possible way to wet our feet. You set the bar high in terms of quality NESCAC sports writing, and I think that we were at least able to approach that level at times.
Thanks to all of the writers, from the ones who wrote just one time to those that wrote as much as we did. The website would not have been what it was if not for all of you – Chad Martin, Colby Morris, Colin Tiernan, Connor Colombo, Dave Peck, Josh Moss, Nate Courville, Oliver Goodman, Pat English, Rob Erickson and Sean Meekins. You guys were never under any type of obligation to write for us, but you did anyways because you had a genuine interest in the same stuff we did. An even bigger thanks to some of our MVPs. Carson Kenney was a huge asset for us last year, writing articles, competing in fantasy football and basketball, and serving as an ear on the ground at Trinity. Even this year, as he was working in the Trinity Athletic Department, he was always happy to help out when possible. Pete Lindholm has been there since the start of NbN, and has always brought a unique style to our pages. No one writes quite like Pete, and eventually we learned that it was futile to expect his work to come back to us with the format or tone that we asked for, but usually it was far superior than anything we could have done. This year, three new contributors jumped on board with a previously unseen eagerness. Nick DiBenedetto accepted every assignment thrown his way, and though “deadlines” seem to be a fluid concept to him, we loved him for it. Kaitlin McCabe came on board last fall, but she really shouldered the load for us this spring as Joe was in season and I suffered from a severe case of senioritis. Kaitlin has just graduated from Hamilton and will be working in sports journalism. Lastly, Rory Ziomek, a baseball player from Tufts, was always there for us this year, so much so that we feel confident in handing Rory the keys to NbN next year. Joe and I both will miss our interactions with these people, who are truly incredible, like all NESCAC students and student-athletes, at everything they do.
And finally, a huge thanks to my partner in crime, Joe MacDonald. There is no one else that I would have ever wanted to do this with. When I approached you with the idea of doing this, you were smart enough to make me pump the brakes and think through completely how we could actually do this. That was just the first time that you saved my butt from my terrible decision-making. I remember when I heard that you were going to spend junior fall abroad in Australia being upset because I thought you weren’t going to do anything for NbN. Instead, you did as much as I could have asked for, even though you were having the time of your life halfway around the world. I always infuriated you with my refusal to use standard grammar and a tendency to not finish sentences in my writing. All the best ideas for the site came from you. Thanks for letting me come along for the ride.
People call me cynical, so I’ll include some negatives. I have a lot of regrets concerning the website. I wish that the site had been able to grow more and to cover more sports than just the three on which we focused. Such a project would have necessitated many more writers, as Joe and I certainly did not have the time to devote learning about other sports. We concentrated on the few sports we did because we felt otherwise our writing would not add anything of value. I hope that in the future more students with deep interests in other sports will decide to be part of NbN.
I wish that I had done more research and reached out to coaches and players more than I did. Lack of preparation and sometimes social anxiety too often made me not want to go out on a limb and ask somebody to talk, but whenever I did it was very rewarding.
We were always terrible about getting out articles on time for them to be relevant, and I always would feel bad on Monday when I hadn’t done the Stock Report like I was supposed to. Being a college student with plenty of other things going on made it so that the website would be something that I would put on the backburner at times.
There were a lot of articles that I wish that I had undertaken which would have required much more legwork on my end. There are a lot of things related to NESCAC sports that require a different approach than what the student newspapers are capable of, but I never quite got around to doing them. I would have loved to examine the demographics of NESCAC athletes a little bit. This lack of research made me feel like I wasn’t doing a good enough job of presenting the stories that you can’t understand from just watching the games and looking at game recaps.
Despite all those regrets, I look back with immense pride at everything that we were able to accomplish over the past two and a half years. I’m also so excited that there is a plan in place for next year when Joe and I will be doing other things besides obsessing over DIII athletics.
Doing this was not easy, but it was a ton of fun and a little addicting. Knowing that some people actually cared about what we wrote was a little scary, and we tried our best to not let those people down. I also got really invested in Bowdoin teams because of it, with basketball being the one sport that I went above and beyond in my fanhood. I meant to write a long piece after the end of basketball season ended detailing my love for the team and why I fell so hard for NESCAC basketball, but I never got around to that. So I’ll write just a little about the team that I rooted harder for than any other.
I didn’t really discover the basketball team until the beginning of sophomore year. I went with a bunch of friends to a meaningless November non-conference game against St. Joseph’s. This was my sophomore year, the beginning of the 2013-2014 regular season when Lucas Hausman ’16 was nothing more than a reserve guard fighting for playing time behind an experience starting backcourt. The game was a 69-65 Bowdoin win and Hausman scored 19 points, though that would end up being his season high. The win took place in front of a few hundred people, and I along with some friends was one of the few students in attendance.
However, the attractions of a NESCAC home game were apparent to me even then. First of all, the lack of fans was a downside because of the bad atmosphere, but it did allow us to easily sit courtside. That ability to sit so close to the game meant it was possible for us to have an outsized effect on it, and I made sure to be as loud as possible at any games. The second thing that got me hooked was just the quality of play that I was only able to appreciate up close. NESCAC basketball players are really good. Like, really good. The success of Duncan Robinson at Michigan and all the players that have successful runs overseas prove that, but people still don’t realize it. The quality of the players made the games FUN to watch. Thanks to Lucas Hausman, Matt Palecki and Jake Donnelly for four years of great basketball.
There were a lot of great moments that I was able to watch in Morrell Gym, but my favorite was junior year when Bowdoin destroyed Bates. I had gone to Bates for the non-conference game when the Bobcats blew out the Polar Bears in front of a raucous crowd. Because it was a Friday night and both teams were good, a better than normal student crowd showed up. And boy did the team give the crowd a treat. From start to finish, Bowdoin was the aggressor, and I have never seen them play close to that level over 40 minutes. Hausman was the headliner of course with his record-setting 44 points, but my favorite comes around the one minute mark of the highlight video when Palecki falls down and then scrambles his way back to the three point line to hit a three.
Those moments watching Bowdoin basketball were some of my favorite as a college student. I’ll keep my final point brief, but beware that this is going to come off as very preachy.
The NESCAC likes to think of itself as different with regards to sports than other places. The first time I ever heard of the NESCAC was a Sports Illustrated article about the conference, praising the NESCAC for doing things ‘the right way.’ The Amherst President is quoted in the second paragraph as saying “I don’t have much trouble justifying them, but that’s only in this kind of setting. It seems everywhere else, sports are a distorting force.” The article basically reads as one big advertisement for the way that the NESCAC operates. The article makes it seem as if the NESCAC has perfected the athletic and academic balance. Maybe it had. I don’t know, I wasn’t there.
However, much of the article is no longer true, and it is a useful reminder that things aren’t as peachy as Sports Illustrated would have you believe. For one, unlike what the article would have you believe, most NESCAC facilities are not ‘dumps’ and there have been substantial resources poured into them. Coaches were once not allowed to recruit off-campus, with Middlebury basketball coach Russ Reilly saying that “All colleges should do this.” Well, this article details how that same Middlebury program put in a LOT of off-campus recruiting in order to convince Zach Baines to go to Middlebury. Going on recruiting trips to camps and AAU tournaments is now normal practice for NESCAC coaches.
When talking about the old rule of NESCAC baseball teams only playing 20 games per season, Tufts baseball coach John Casey is quoted as saying, “Why are some schools playing 70 baseball games a year? I don’t know. But I do know the players are not going to class.” Well it wasn’t 70, but Tufts, still under the leadership of Casey, played 43 games this season. The article claims that firing a coach because of a lack of winning is ‘unthinkable’, but this year Williams let go of head football coach Aaron Kelton for that exact reason, and there have been other instances of this occurring, although the public reason is (almost?) never the W-L record.
The NESCAC is different, but no one should fool themselves into thinking that NESCAC sports are perfect. NESCAC presidents, coaches and alumni have to be careful in the role that sports play on campus because it is easy to deviate slightly from the intended course for a long period and then wake up one day realizing that you are in a completely different place than you intended to be. The ability for sports to be a positive for individuals and communities is a real one, but it is also a limited one. Sports can, and sometimes are, a ‘distorting force’ in the NESCAC, and we cannot bury our heads in the sand and insist that the NESCAC model is perfect.
That doesn’t discredit all the amazing things about NESCAC sports that has made me fall in love with them over the past four years. From the quality of the student-athletes to the sound of the referee blowing his whistle, NESCAC sports are special, and still closer to the right way than anywhere else in the country. I will miss it immensely.
OF Ariel Kenney ’18 is Amherst’s top hitter with a .376/.445/.512 slash line, and helped the Purple & White clinch a playoff berth with their win in the final game of the series against Wesleyan. (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)
In years past, the NESCAC West Division has been lacking in any meaningful regular season drama outside of seeing whether Amherst or Wesleyan would finish first. The East has been the site of all the action with teams jumping in and out of the top two. Those roles were reversed this year with the East playing out their games without much consequence and the West up in the air until the bitter end.
In the end, though, Wesleyan and Amherst sit at the top yet again. However, they do so with identical 7-5 conference records. That’s a far cry from two teams that went a combined 58-14 over the past three years. The two played each other this weekend, and Wesleyan came into the weekend looking like they were the team in danger of missing the playoffs with a 5-4 record. Then, on Friday Wesleyan won over Amherst and beat Williams beat Hamilton. Entering Saturday the West standings looked like this:
Wesleyan 6-4
Amherst 6-4
Middlebury 6-6
Williams 5-5
Hamilton 3-7
A Saturday sweep by Williams of Hamilton combined with either Amherst or Wesleyan sweeping the other doubleheader would have resulted in the Ephs making the playoffs. Heck, even if Williams split they could have snuck in with an Amherst sweep because the Ephs beat the Cardinals twice. A three-way tie scenario still would have favored the eventual playoff teams, but the point is that even though Wesleyan and Amherst made it back to the playoffs, things were close to going very differently.
Of course, they didn’t go differently. And I feel confident that the Cardinals and Amherst really are the two best teams in the West Division, though the gap has shrunk. They have much better overall records and are still more talented. But the divisional race was awesome to watch unfold in such a tight way. The playoffs don’t start for another 10 days, but we still have a lot of regular season baseball to enjoy before then.
Stock Up
Starting Pitcher Peter Rantz ’16 (Wesleyan)
Rantz clinched the Cardinals’ place in the playoffs by going all eight innings in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader. The ace had struggled his past two weekend starts, losing both games and throwing up a 6.35 ERA in them. Things looked bad as he allowed three runs in the bottom of the first. From there, he turned things on and scattered six hits over the next 7.0 innings without too many problem spots. Holding Amherst scoreless for seven innings is some pretty nifty stuff for the senior, and it is the type of resilient performance we have grown to expect from Wesleyan.
Wesleyan
It’s a cliché at this point (see my last sentence about Rantz), but the Cardinals really do seem to have some sort of secret sauce or something for making things happen. They won the series opener for the first time this weekend by hitting four home runs. Then they rallied from that three run deficit to win in extra innings in the second game. That was their second extra inning win in a NESCAC game this year, and they have trailed late in a few of their wins. Marco Baratta ’16 has not slowed down from his scorching start, taking home NESCAC POTW honors and having a OBP of .538. Other big performances included that of first baseman Jordan Farber ’16, who hit four homers in conference and shortstop Guy Davidson ’16 who has been great at the plate again this year. The Cardinals ended up winning the West for the fourth straight year. Now that they are in, the two-time defending champions are the team that no one wants to play.
Centerfielder Cody McCallum ’16 (Tufts)
The senior has carried on the strong tradition of Tufts outfielders with a first name starting with C and a last name starting with Mc, which began with Connor McDavitt ’15. Seriously though, McCallum has been huge for the Jumbos this year, and he was great this weekend. He batted .400 in their four NESCAC games (the Jumbos had to makeup a game against Bates). He also had one RBI in each of them. He leads the league in walks with 25, making him the perfect leadoff hitter. That crazy walk rate is why he has a .455 OBP.
Stock Down
Stealing
I think the stolen base is one of the most exciting plays in baseball, but this year the NESCAC basically has decided that stealing bases is stupid. The numbers for elite base stealers are way down. Trinity’s Nick Pezella ’16 leads the league with 15 stolen bases. Last year four players had more than that. Just four players are in double digits this year compared to 13 in 2015 (there are two guys at nine and a bunch at seven, though, so a few more should reach that plateau). However, it isn’t just the top guys stealing less. This is a league-wide change. Consider that Wesleyan has led the league with 46 steals this year, and yet five teams (half the league!) had more than that last year. Overall teams have stolen 27.8 percent less bases this year to date than a year ago. That is a huge drop, and while there’s still a lot of games to go, it would take Dee Gordon rediscovering his eligibility and playing the next few weeks for the Wesleyan Cardinals in order to get back to last year’s steal numbers (something that I bet Dee would be happy to do right now). I don’t know whether to give better catchers or slower runners the credit, but the evidence is there that managers had good reason to pull in the reins on their players this year. Teams got caught stealing 120 times last year; this season, already 118.
Maine Schools
It’s unfortunate for this trio of schools that they are all in the same state, because when things go bad for all of them we almost have to write about it. Bowdoin, Colby and Bates all finished 4-8, far away from the playoffs. Is baseball harder in Maine? I kid, of course. What killed all of them was their inability to hit. The three teams finished last in the NESCAC in both OPB and SLG. We expected that it was going to be tough sledding for all these teams, and they showed a good amount of fight. The problem going forward is that all of them are graduating a lot of talent. Bates is probably the best positioned for next year in terms of making the playoffs, but in the longer term I like the youngsters on Bowdoin to return the Polar Bears to real prominence.
It’s hard to believe, but with the West still up in the air (like this fastball), Williams, ranked eighth this week, can still make the playoffs with a sweep of the Continentals. (Courtesy of Williams Athletics)
It’s been about two weeks since we last released our NESCAC Baseball Power Rankings, and lots of epic wins, losses and upsets have happened since then. As teams make their final push for the playoffs, let’s take another look at how the they stack up against one another.
Tufts (23-5, 8-0), Last Rankings: #3
The Jumbos have proven that you don’t need to be the best in each area of the game to be a winning team—talent and skill can be two different things. Whereas plenty of teams in the NESCAC have talented players, Tufts has players able to utilize their talent in a way that yields success. Their team batting average isn’t great at .296, but their OBP of .427, the third best number in the league, is promising. Even their .405 slugging percentage is admirable. On the mound, Andrew David ’16 (2.22) and Speros Varinos ’18 (2.29) have tortured batters. The East may not be as competitive as the West this season, but let’s not disregard the significance of Tufts’ 8-0 conference record. No other NESCAC team comes close to that. Of course, we haven’t really seen Tufts face the scrappy West teams yet, so we will have to wait until the playoffs to see how these teams really compare.
Wesleyan (18-9, 5-4), Last Rankings: #1 I’m sure the Cardinals will be furious when they see this drop in the rankings, but you can’t drop two games to Williams (#8)—by at least three runs—and still hold the number one slot. According to statistics and overall performance, Wesleyan would actually place several spots lower in the rankings were it not for their incredible roster of batters, especially Marco Baratta ’16, Guy Davidson ’16 and Will O’Sullivan ’16. These guys bang it out when up at bat, bringing real firepower every time they’re at the plate, and hitting for power is what a team needs to get ahead in the NESCAC. On the mound, ace Nick Miceli ’17 is a phenomenal and crafty pitcher with a solid 2.63 ERA and 45 strikeouts on his resume, while the team’s most successful pitcher after him, Peter Rantz ’16, has just a slightly above-average 4.59 ERA. Having watched Wesleyan’s series against Hamilton, I can say that the Cardinals won the series because the Continentals made ghastly errors in Game 3, not necessarily because the Wesleyan team is far superior, which speaks to the NESCAC’s parity this year. Wesleyan’s deadliest weapon is unquestionably its offense, and they beat their closest competition in that category, Hamilton, last weekend. Their ability to pick up runs will allow them to get ahead, or stay relevant, in each game and compensate for other facets of the game, where they are still good, just not great. However, despite the #2 ranking here, the Cards are playing for their playoff lives this weekend. A sweep of Amherst gets them in for sure, while a 2-1 mark will have them watching the Williams series to see if the Ephs can pull off a sweep. Good for Wesleyan is that a scenario where the Cards, Ephs and the Middlebury Panthers all end 6-6 will put Wesleyan into the postseason because of overall winning percentage.
Amherst (20-8, 6-3), Last Rankings: #2 Wesleyan and Amherst are pretty interchangeable right now, but the Cardinals’ production at the plate gives them the boost. That being said, the Jeffs are by no means a team to take lightly, and they have a superior rotation to the Cardinals: their record currently leads the West, and their ace Jackson Volle ’17 (1.10 ERA) earned not one but two conference nods for the Pitcher of the Week position. Dave Cunningham ’16 also received attention this week from the conference for his batting and fielding, boasting a .500 average and an error-free performance in the field. Perhaps Amherst’s one weakness is that the team is good in all areas but not exceptionally great in any one of them. Regardless, Wesleyan and Amherst face each other this weekend, and the series will undoubtedly be neck-and-neck in each game.
Trinity (14-14, 7-5), Last Rankings:#6 The Bantams have had killer series since we last looked at the team rankings. They have gotten back-to-back series wins over Bowdoin (#7) and Colby (#9)—which at the end of the day wasn’t a real struggle—and swept Bates (#10) last weekend, ensuring their spot in the playoffs. Trinity was swept by Tufts, but at the rate the Jumbos have picked themselves up this season, that’s not surprising. The pitching rotation also lacks depth, relying mainly on Anthony Egeln, Jr. (2.44 ERA) for high performance on the mound, but right now that hasn’t been a cause for too much concern. Trinity falls dead center in every area of the game, according to NESCAC standings, so I’m happy with Trinity’s ability to shut down every team in the East except Tufts. Right now Trinity is 7-5 in the conference, and Bowdoin and Colby are next at 3-6. That says a lot about the landscape in the East. The Bantams are also back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013, displacing Bates, who has gone the last two seasons.
Hamilton (14-12, 3-6), Last Rankings: #4
The Continentals currently have the worst record in the West, so why are they still stacked relatively high up in the rankings? I swear I’m not being biased in saying that Hamilton possesses extremely talented players with lots of potential, especially when it comes to performance at the plate. Their slash line of .343/.432/.481 put them second in the conference for hitting, and juniors Ryan Wolfsberg ’17, Kenny Collins ’17 and Brett Mele ’17 would be hitting on any team in the league. Yet, dropping two games a piece to Middlebury and Wesleyan proves a fact that cannot be ignored: Hamilton is consistently unreliable in the field, dropping balls and making terrible throws that add up to inexcusable big innings. Accordingly, they have the worst FPCT in the league at .926 with 588 putouts and a whopping 68 errors. Against the Panthers, Hamilton had eight errors in Game 1, three in Game 2, and two in Game 3. Thankfully, the Continentals improved throughout the weekend, but that’s 13 errors in one weekend—Middlebury had only two. Then last weekend against the Cardinals, Hamilton had 10 errors in total, seven of which contributed (or directly led to) their 15-6 loss in Game 3. Wesleyan, in comparison, had three errors.Compounding the problem is a shallow bullpen that doesn’t rack up a lot of strikeouts. Balls in play plus shaky defense equals unearned runs. The Continentals have a ton to offer, but they’ll never be truly great unless they clean up on defense.
Middlebury (9-16, 6-6), Last Rankings: #7 Week after week, the Panthers are improving rather than shrinking back into the losing team the West has grown accustomed to. They stand right in the middle of all NESCAC team stats when they used to come dead last, or close to it, in previous seasons. We’ve already said that the older players, especially seniors John Luke ’16 and Joe MacDonald ’16, have clearly developed during the off-season and that fresh rookies like Colby Morris ’19 have added more depth to the team, but it’s likely that watching their program progress into a winning program has motivated the players to put in that extra push of effort, producing even more wins. Should Wesleyan fail to win their series against Amherst, the Panthers could potentially knock them out of that second-place slot guaranteeing a run in the NESCAC playoffs. As an eternal lover of the underdog, I’m honestly excited just thinking about it.
Bowdoin (19-10, 3-6), Last Rankings: #8 Honestly, Bowdoin has moved up in rankings because other teams needed to go down in them. That’s probably something to be thankful for, based on the number of rookies the Polar Bears have on the roster. Bowdoin has already been eliminated from the playoffs, but their matchup with Tufts this weekend provides an opportunity to make a statement. It sounds cliche to say Bowdoin is a young team right now and coming out low in rankings is just a part of their growing phase, but, to an extent, it’s sort of the only way you can look at the team right now. No Bowdoin player has made it into the top-50 in batting average, and the team’s batting average of .265 is scary. However, I really like Bowdoin’s ERA of 3.80. That shows some potential, or at least a good starting point, for next season. At this point, Bowdoin needs to think about the future rather than salvaging the rest of their now stagnant season.
Williams (10-17, 4-5), Last Rankings: #9
The Ephs managed to win two games in their series against Wesleyan, which definitely must be acknowledged in some way. I’m pretty dumbfounded by the stats of the games, but nevertheless, those two pretty wins pushed the Ephs ahead of Hamilton in the West’s standings, making this certainly an odd year for the division. Still, statistically Williams hasn’t stacked up well this year. The Ephs have an ERA of 6.94 and have allowed 120 walks, both league worsts. They have a FPCT of .945, which ranks seventh in the league. They swing it at a solid .299/.391/.376 clip, but overall, the team is not up to the caliber of the rest of the division. But, baseball is a crazy game, and a sweep for the Ephs this weekend puts them in the mix for the playoffs.
Colby (10-18, 2-6), Last Rankings: #10 At least the Mules are consistent, right? Colby has a handful of extremely talented players like Soren Hanson ’16 and Tommy Forese ’16, but there’s only so much you can expect them to do for a continually struggling team. Bates’ miserable losses to Trinity pushed Colby ahead of the Bobcats in the East, but the Mules have zero chances of getting to the playoffs anytime in the near future. They remain too far down the standings in all categories to show tremendous growth—they are seventh in average and ninth in ERA and FPCT—and with their two most talented players graduating, it’s likely next year will be a struggle for the Mules. Hopefully Colby really invests in the youth in the offseason in order to get a head start on next year’s season, when there will be really, really big shoes to fill.
Bates (10-16, 2-6), Last Rankings: #5 In just two weeks, the Bobcats have severely dropped in our power rankings. They started off the season quite well: they won their doubleheader against Bowdoin; Connor Speed ’18 was awarded NESCAC Pitcher of the Week. Everything just fall apart afterwards. Trinity dominated their series, winning all three of the weekend’s games. In all fairness, two games had a one run differential, and one game went into extra innings, so Bates wasn’t entirely out of control there. However, those three losses were the straw that broke the camel’s back, or in this case, the Bobcats’ back. Bates is now last in the East after losing six conference games. The team’s pitching is the best thing it has going right now, as Bates has an ERA of 4.42 thanks to guys like Speed. Thankfully, there’s plenty of time for the youth on the team to develop the program, but this year’s essentially over for the team as a whole.
Conference games this weekend will make or break teams’ chances of playing in the NESCAC playoffs this year. Here are this week’s match ups:
Colby vs. Bates—Friday at 3:00 pm; Saturday at noon, 2:30 pm Tufts vs Bowdoin—Friday at 3:0o pm; Saturday at noon, 2:30 pm Tufts vs Bates—Sunday at 1:00 pm Wesleyan vs Amherst—Friday at 4:00 pm; Saturday at 1:00 pm, 3:30 pm Hamilton vs Williams—Friday at 4:00 pm; Saturday at noon, 2:30 pm Trinity vs. Middlebury—Saturday at noon, 2:30 pm (non-divisional)
Amherst is primed and ready for the weekend. Are you? (Courtesy of Amherst Athletics)
Now that last weekend was, in a word, surprising, it’s a bit challenging to say how this weekend will turn out. If this pattern of upsets continues across the board, we’re looking at an entirely new—albeit pretty dysfunctional—conference. But that’s NESCAC Baseball for you, always keeping you on your toes.
Poor weather strikes the NESCAC yet again, postponing at least the Wesleyan vs. Hamilton series for a day (i.e. the DH remains on Saturday, but Game 3 will be Sunday, not Friday). I know it’s not worth it to pray to Mother Nature to hold off on the rain, but hopefully the weekend won’t be entirely messed up due to crummy weather and thus crummy fields.
This weekend preview is a bit more concentrated than usual, with players to watch for in each series. The projected pitchers are not listed in order of when they will pitch; they are just the candidates we will most likely see on the bump sometime during the weekend’s games.
NESCAC Games
Colby vs Tufts—Friday 3:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm Amherst vs Middlebury—Friday 4:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm Wesleyan vs Hamilton—Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm Bates vs Trinity—Friday 3:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm Williams vs Bowdoin—Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm (games don’t count towards conference standings)
The Run-Down
Colby vs Tufts—Friday 3:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm Players to Watch:
3B Zach Ellenthal ’16: Adam Lamont wrote about this senior earlier in the week, but I think mentioning him again only emphasizes how crucial he is to Colby’s series against Tufts. Ellenthal is currently the Mules’ best chance of getting runs this weekend. He holds a team-high slashline of .370/.477/.574 and currently ranks better than all of one Jumbo hitter (Harry Brown). In fact, Colby’s batters are generally hitting better than Tufts right now. If Ellenthal can outsmart Tufts’ unforgiving pitchers, he’ll open the door for the rest of his teammates to wear down and intimidate the bump. (FYI: He was this week’s NESCAC Player of the Week).
P Andrew David ’16: The guy holds a 2.27 ERA in 35.2 innings pitched and manages 10.09 K/G—that’s brutal.. for hitters. Right now he sits in the top five pitchers in the NESCAC, placed right behind this week’s rival pitcher Soren Hanson of Colby (who boasts a 2.23 ERA and strikes out about 10.58 batters per game). David isn’t going to take mercy on the Mules at bat, likely striking out most of Colby’s batting lineup throughout his innings on the mound.
This series is going to be a battle of the pitchers. With both teams hitting slightly below average (Tufts at .294, Colby at .291), the dominant players on the mound (see above) will really be forces to be reckoned with—forces that will probably strike many batters out and lead to a series of low runs and quick innings. Tufts’ is unquestionably the superior team, and a lot of it will be seen this weekend in their defense, which rocks a league-high .965 FPCT. Colby doesn’t have the same consistency in the field at .945, so it’s safe to say the Jumbos will have more luck making it around the bases.
Prediction: Tufts wins 3
Amherst vs Middlebury—Friday 4:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm
Players to Watch:
C/INF Dave Cunningham ’16: With a .992 FPCT and just one error, Cunningham isn’t going to give Middlebury the errors they enjoyed last week at Hamilton. At bat, he’s also proven himself to be quite reliable, as he holds a .348/.400/.464 slash line. Amherst will need to be consistent on both offense and defense in order to win the series and prevent Middlebury from outsmarting their mistakes, and Cunningham represents the type of player the Jeffs can count on in both areas.
C John Luke ’16: Last week the senior hit a nice .455, going 10-for-22 with five RBIs, four runs scored and a pair of doubles. Against Hamilton alone, he hit .500, going 3-for-5 in game one then 3-for-6 in game three—helping improve his slash line to .380/.415/.493. In his final year, Luke is killing it at the plate, showing serious progress from his previous years with the Panthers. But that’s not all—he’s dominating behind the plate, with 126 putouts and a FPCT of .993. He only has one error. This season Luke is top-notch everywhere he needs to be, and that has prepared him to take on Amherst.
I’m actually thrilled to say that for the first time in a long time, the Panthers have a solid shot of preventing Amherst’s series sweep. They took a game from Wesleyan and capitalized on Hamilton’s errors to take two—what’s Amherst now but another team to be outsmarted by the underdogs?
Don’t get me wrong, Middlebury has talent that should not be confused with just luck. Having worked the scoresheet for all the Hamilton vs. Middlebury games, I can attest to Adam’s claims about P/DH Joe MacDonald ’16 both on the mound and at the plate. Luke, Colin Waters ’19, and Brendan Donohue ’18 also intimidated the Continentals during the series. The Panther rookies really are a great start for the rising program, and the veterans players are showing a lot of growth.
Nevertheless, Amherst has more talent and doesn’t need luck to get wins. They’re going to make the Panthers work a heck of a lot harder than they did last weekend and will show them who’s the real NESCAC powerhouse.
Prediction: Amherst wins 2
Wesleyan vs Hamilton—Friday 4:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm
Players to Watch:
SS Guy Davidson ’16: Watching Davidson play (albeit via live stream) is pretty incredible. In 105 times at the plate, he’s picked up a .410/.538/.671 slash line with a whopping 15 doubles, three triples, and two home runs. In his four games for Wesleyan last week, he finished 7-for-17 (.417), dominating the Ephs with three doubles, one triple, three RBIs, two runs scored and a walk.
LF Ryan Wolfsberg ’17: Wolfsberg—with a beautiful, conference-topping .461/.538/.671 slash line—is pretty amazing at the plate, and everyone knows it: I the ultra-stats person know it, the Continentals know it, the conference knows it, and he himself knows it. Though Hamilton had a rough weekend, the juniot hit a solid .667 (8-for-12) with a .643 on-base percentage and 1.250 slugging percentage against Middlebury last weekend, adding to his resume a solo home run three hits, two doubles, a triple and more in those three games alone. He has hit safely in seven straight games—which will be an important factor this weekend—and has driven in at least one run in six in a row. He admittedly aims for a home run with every at bat, it’s always intriguing to see just how many times he comes close to that mission.
Wesleyan has been NESCAC Champion for two years; Hamilton is the underdog team evolving into more than just an upstart. In most years, it would be a given that the Cardinals would sweep the series—they are and have been for several seasons the dominant team. But several key factors come into play this year. First, this year’s batch of Continentals shows the tremendous development of the Hamilton program. Second, Wesleyan is developing a tendency to experience upsets, namely losing to Middlebury at the beginning of the season and dropping two games in their series against Williams last weekend.
Let’s look at the stats: Both teams lead the league in hitting, the Cardinals with a .355 batting average followed by the Continental’s .346 (compare: the third highest average is Amherst’s .319). In fact, their entire slash lines are similar: Wesleyan’s .355/.435/.493 is just slightly above Hamilton’s .346/.440/.480. Clearly these two teams are superior at the plate On the mound, Hamilton has actually surpassed Wesleyan, racking up an ERA of 4.30 while the latter only has a 5.21. Then there’s the drastic difference between Hamilton’s 53 walks allowed and Wesleyan’s 100. The Cardinals have only played two more games than the Continentals, so this staggering difference is not relative to games played. I’m expecting we’ll see some big hits from the usual suspects and plenty of outs at the plate.
However, Hamilton’s number of putouts (483) and FPCT (.929) is currently the worst in the league, no doubt as a result of all those ugly, entirely avoidable, kind of just pathetic errors committed in last weekend’s series against Middlebury. If the Continentals don’t keep their heads in the game and play to their potential, they are very much at risk of letting Wesleyan earn excessive runs due to their own deficiencies. Hamilton’s non-conference game against Saint Lawrence University on Tuesday had fewer errors, and I’d like to think that is a reflection of the team’s a) natural talent, b) uncharacteristically bad weekend against the Panthers, and/or c) realization of their ghastly mistakes over the weekend and strong desire to prevent future embarrassments.
Hamilton can prevent a series sweep, perhaps even win two of the three—if they play to their full potential.
Prediction: Wesleyan wins 2
Bates vs Trinity—Friday 3:00 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm
Players to Watch:
P Connor Colombo ’16: Colombo just misses the number-one slot in NESCAC with a 1.78 ERA in 30.1 innings on the bump. Against the Bantams, Bates needs to be a stronger force on the mound to compensate for similar batting averages, and Colombo will help Bobcats be that superior team.
Nick Pezzella ’16: Thankfully for the Bantams, Pezzella is full of much-needed firepower at the plate. Last weekend the senior went 6-11 in three games (against Tufts), producing three runs, a double, two homers, five RBIs, a walk, and two stolen paces. In each game, he had two hits on the Jumbo’s pitchers.
As Adam noted earlier this week, Trinity is in quite a sticky situation right now: the Bantams lost all three games against Tufts, placing them in last in the East. This series against Bates is essential if Trinity has any hopes of making the playoffs, or just staying in one piece in the conference. Up at bat, the Bobcats and the Bantams are practically identical, hitting .275 and .279 respectively. While Trinity more frequently hits for power, earning a .394 slugging average compared to Bates’ .352, Bates is slightly luckier when it comes to actually making it on base.
Prediction: Bates wins 2
Williams vs Bowdoin—Saturday 12:00 pm, 2:30 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm
Players to Watch:
1B/P Nathan Michalski ’17: Michalski trails Bowdoin’s Chad Martin in NESCAC fielding standings with a .989 FPCT and two errors in 23 games. It’ll be interesting to see how strong skills on defense prevent the already struggling Polar Bear offense from racking up runs.
P Harry Ridge ’16: If Bowdoin is going to compensate for deficiencies at the plate, they need to prevent Williams from getting too far ahead in runs. Ridge has a 2.81 ERA and has walked only six players while allowing only one home run. It’s likely the Polar Bears will rely on pitchers to give the Ephs a hard time this weekend, and Ridge has the highest chances of doing so.
After winning their series against Wesleyan, the Ephs are likely riding on a high this week against the Polar Bears.
Bowdoin has the poor batting history (i.e. the team’s in dead last) compared to Williams, hitting .266/.350/.359 compared to the Eph’s .309/.404/.394. Thankfully for the Polar Bears, Williams has the highest ERA in the league at 7.73 and only 4.36 K/G, so there’s a chanced that their subpar performance at the plate won’t actually matter. Bowdoin, meanwhile, does pretty well on the bump with a 4.14 ERA—definitely a sign that there questionable pitching rotation has become more cohesive in the last week or so. We always love to see teams play each other in cross-division matchups even it doesn’t count for the standings, and this will be a fun series regardless.
Middlebury catcher and co-captain Max Araya ’16 had some kind of weekend, going 6-12 with three walks, three RBIs and his first career home run while tallying his 100th game and 100th hit in a Middlebury uniform. And he did all of this while the Panthers positioned themselves with a shot at the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since 2011 by beating Hamilton in two out of three games. (Courtesy of Middlebury Athletics)
I titled the weekend preview a few days ago “Separation Weekend” because I was expecting the usual suspects to make a statement that the status quo was still very much in place. Well, I was dead wrong, as Williams rocked Wesleyan to win two of three. On Friday, starting pitcher Luke Rodino ’17 worked around five walks to pitch seven innings, and the Ephs got production up and down the lineup to get the win. Then in Game 1 of the doubleheader Saturday, shortstop Kellen Hatheway ’19 dropped a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh and the Ephs walked off with the win. Wesleyan battled back to win the third game handily, but they are still just 3-3 halfway through their conference schedule
Want to know something crazy? Middlebury has as many conference wins as any other NESCAC team. Sure, they also have four losses, but this has still been an incredible run for the Panthers. They took two of three from Hamilton in a sloppy series that was filled with runs. The Friday game in particular was a doozy. Hamilton raced out to a 7-2 lead and seemed to be in control until Middlebury took advantage of a bajillion (it was five but whatever) errors by Hamilton in the 5th inning and scored 10 runs. Hamilton almost came back to win in large part because Chris Collins ’17 was a man possessed at the plate going 5-5 with four runs, seven RBI, and two home runs. That wasn’t enough though, and the Continentals are now 2-4 in conference while Collins left the Saturday twinbill with an injury and he could be affected going forward.
It is still entirely possible that Amherst and Wesleyan emerge from the West, but the two still have to play each other in their series so the math isn’t easy. Considering that Amherst didn’t even play a NESCAC series, they had a great weekend watching the rest of the division beat up on each other. The Amherst-Middlebury series suddenly has serious playoff implications on both sides, a sentence that I didn’t think I was ever going to write. Two wins from the Panthers locks them into a NESCAC Tournament spot. Williams is feeling great after taking two of three from Wesleyan, but they are still just 4-5 with Hamilton still on their docket. The Ephs likely need to sweep Hamilton to have a hope of making the playoffs. For years, the West has been a boring time, and I’m glad that this year has proved to be different.
Stock Up
Relief Pitcher Ian Kinney ’18 (Tufts)
In the final game of their series, Tufts grabbed a 7-0 lead after the first inning, but starting pitcher Andrew David ’16 could last only 2+ innings on the mound. So Kinney, seldom used in high leverage situations this year, had to come on with the score 7-4, runners on first and second, and nobody out. Kinney got out of the inning by getting a strikeout and double play ground out. He then held the Bantams scoreless for the next four innings, and Tufts came away with the victory 11-4. The win completed the sweep of Trinity and moved Tufts to 5-0 now in the NESCAC. The Jumbos are three losses clear of anybody in the East, and they are now virtual locks for the playoffs.With the top teams in the West not looking as strong as usual, this could be the year that the Jumbos convert their domination of the East into a NESCAC championship.
P/DH Joe MacDonald ’16 (Middlebury)
Let me give dear friend of the program and Nothing But NESCAC’s co-founder a little love here. MacDonald has moved over the past two years from playing primarily at third base to now being a weekend starting pitcher and occasional DH, too. On Friday at DH he went 3-6 and had four RBI as a big part of the Panthers comeback. Then on Saturday, he pitched five innings and kept Hamilton in check allowing three runs (two earned). Middlebury has now won two of his three conference starts. He isn’t overpowering many hitters and has a very low strikeout rate, but also only one walk in 18.2 IP. He is doing a good enough job of mixing up his pitches to keep hitters off balance. We have focused mostly on the impact of young players in improving Middlebury’s fortunes, but a large part can also be attributed to contributions from old standbys like MacDonald and John Luke ’16. Max Araya ’16 has also been sensational with a .447 OBP.
3B Zach Ellenthal ’16 (Colby)
Ellenthal hit a not too shabby .667 (8-12) over the three games against Bowdoin. Four of those hits were doubles, and the senior had five RBI. Ellenthal has been in and out of the lineup a little bit this spring, but I’m guessing he is going to get plenty of playing time the rest of the way given that he has a .526 OBP in conference games. Colby’s offense has been much better of late, and they blitzed Bowdoin in the first two games of their series. There isn’t a ton of power on the roster (just four home runs as a team), but they can still hurt you because of the ability for the entire lineup to get on base. I know it sounds cliché, but I saw Bowdoin lose to the Mules in part because Colby put the Polar Bears into situations where they had to make a lot of plays.
Stock Down
Trinity
There is nothing terrible about losing to Tufts, but getting swept by them has put the Bantams into a much more precarious position. Trinity had chances to win each of the three games, and that makes the losses even harder in a way. They led 3-1 in the first game, forced the second game to extra innings, and threatened for a brief moment in that third game as mentioned above. Trinity didn’t play particularly bad in any aspect, but if you have to pin the sweep on any one thing, it would be the inability of the offense to string together hits. They scored four runs in each of the three games, an almost frustrating consistency that allows you to be in every game but have a hard time winning one of them. The Bantams still very much hold their own destiny, and they get a chance at Bates this weekend. Trinity was in basically the same situation last year: 4-5 with only their series against Bates left. The Bantams lost all three of those games to finish in last in the East. A repeat performance of that would be devastating.
Bowdoin’s Veteran Hitters
The Polar Bears offense has ground almost to a complete halt, and the biggest reason is that the guys expected to carry the lineup have instead been huge drags on it. Be warned, some of these conference numbers are tough to swallow. Shortstop Sean Mullaney ’17, who was batting well above .400 for a while, has a .094 BA in conference. Chad Martin ’16, the big bopper in the middle, has a .111 BA and just one extra base hit. Peter Cimini ’16 has a .233 average in conference. Along with Trinity, the Polar Bears are well below every other team in BA for NESCAC games at .217. In fairness to Bowdoin, they do have a much better OBP than Trinity does, but the Bantams have slugged the ball better. Bottomline, nobody on Bowdoin is really hitting the ball that well, and the team has now lost three consecutive series against teams in the East not named Tufts.
Hamilton Defense
The old Bull Durham quote goes, “This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.” Well, Hamilton has been failing in the catching department, and it really bit them badly on Saturday. We noted already that they had five errors in one inning against Middlebury. They had eight total in that game. For the weekend series, the Continentals had 13 errors. Hamilton is good, but it is hard to win when you keep giving the other team extra outs and opportunities to score. The weekend was a frustrating one for Hamilton because they played well enough in areas to win. And they could see the window of opportunity for making the playoffs open with Williams beating Wesleyan twice. However, they couldn’t capitalize and get it done on their home field. They can still get hot and make a miracle run to the playoffs, but they are going to have to field a lot better to do so.
Get on your horse, Brandon Lopez! (Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics)
After a little bit of a break from Power Rankings while we waited for things to sort themselves out so we’d look less stupid, the most powerful of NESCAC Power Rankings are back. We haven’t had a rankings since the NESCAC conference season began, so now is a good chance to reorder the teams as the next few weekends are the meat of the NESCAC schedule.
1. Wesleyan (15-4, 2-1), Last Rankings: #2
Kaitlin McCabe ranked Wesleyan second last time, and you might be questioning whether the Cardinals have done enough to make them worthy of moving up. Well, know that it’s close between the top teams. I put Wesleyan tops because I think they have the highest ceiling, even with everything they lost last year. They are 9-1 in their last 10 games, and after dropping their conference opener to Middlebury, they responded with two convincing wins in the doubleheader Saturday. Nick Miceli ’17 got his league-leading fifth win this weekend, and he has a miniscule 1.49 ERA to boot. For a guy that pitched just 13 innings last year, those are some real solid numbers. Wesleyan is not as good as a year ago, but they have done a sensational job to this point and seem to be getting better each week.
2. Amherst (14-4, 4-2), Last Rankings: #1
I drop Amherst a spot because of their inability to sweep Hamilton or Williams in their first two weekend series. They haven’t lost a combined two games to those two teams in a season since 2010. I now am not 100 percent confident that they make the playoffs because Wesleyan still looms on the schedule. If Amherst gets swept in that series, the potential is there for someone (dare we say Middlebury!) to steal that second spot. Offensively Amherst is their typical selves, being among the best in the league at both hitting for power and stealing bases. The defense has been really bad in their conference games though with a fielding percentage of .911. It hasn’t really cost them big yet, but it makes me nervous.
3. Tufts (12-4, 2-0), Last Rankings: #4
The Jumbos haven’t done that much to move a spot, but Bowdoin has fallen off in conference so Tufts is the clear choice here. I don’t want to disparage Tufts; they were on a eight-game winning streak after all until losing to Roger Williams last night. Their team batting average is a really bad .282, but that is all part of their team philosophy. Their OBP is a more robust .418, the third best number in the league. Andrew David ’16 has proven beyond a doubt that he is a top of the line ace, and Speros Varinos ’18 isn’t far behind. The jury is still out on R.J Hall ’19, owner of a 1.09 ERA, and Tim Superko ’17 had his best start of the season last week. The rotation is not as deep as it has been in years past, and that leaves them somewhat vulnerable.
4. Hamilton (11-7, 1-2), Last Rankings: 5
I know I mentioned Middlebury when talking about Amherst’s potential to miss the playoffs, but Hamilton to me is the third-best team in the West right now. The problem for them is that they already lost two of three to Amherst, and the final game of that series was a heartbreaking loss in extra innings. That lineup really is not a joke. Five of their every game starters have an OBP better than .400, and guys like Brett Mele ’17 and Kenny Collins ’17 are still getting on-base at a rate better than 50 percent. The Continentals can get back on track for making an upset run if they sweep the Panthers. Anything less than that and they will need a lot of things to go right for them to have a good chance.
5. Bates (9-12, 2-3), Last Rankings: #7
I put Bates here above Trinity because I have more respect for the Bobcats track record over the past few years. I also have to give credit for them sweeping the doubleheader against Bowdoin on Saturday after the Bobcats came completely unraveled in a 13-1 loss on Friday. Connor Speed ’18 took home NESCAC Pitcher of the Week honors because of his six shutout innings as Bowdoin could not figure out the funky motion of the right-hander. There is no doubt that Bates got lucky in the second game of the doubleheader when Bowdoin had five errors that led to all nine runs being unearned in the 9-5 game. Their series against Trinity next weekend looms large.
6. Trinity (9-11, 4-2), Last Rankings: #6
Trinity, long a NESCAC powerhouse, is back, baby! No, the Bantams, a team that used to strike fear into teams because of their slugging ability, is certainly not anywhere close to the team they were years ago. They have gotten back-to-back series wins over Bowdoin and Colby to put themselves in position to make the playoffs, but they have to prove they can beat Bates or Tufts before I have full faith in them. I loved how Trinity looked in the first game on Saturday as Anthony Egeln ’18 went all seven innings and a Scott Cullinane ’16 hit a three run homer in the first that gave them a commanding lead early. That lineup can still be shut down by really good pitching, though.
7. Middlebury (6-11, 3-3), Last Week: #8
When do we start to believe in the Panthers? Not quite yet, especially because they are in the West and not the East division. That win over Wesleyan which I sort of glossed over when talking about the Cardinals was an impressive one. Middlebury played Wesleyan close in some games last year so it isn’t a total surprise. Wesleyan didn’t play terribly; the Panthers simply came ready to play. They did get some lucky breaks, though. At one point an errant back pick attempt careened off the noggin of 2B Jake Turtel ’18 and went out of play, immediately allowing two runs to score, and Turtel later scored on a bloopy double. Friend of the program Colby Morris ’19 pitched great to get the win, and the offense put up two different crooked numbers against Ethan Rode ’17. The Panthers need to win just one more conference game to match their wins in ALL games a season ago.
8. Bowdoin (12-8, 2-4), Last Week: #3
No team has seen their fortunes fall more than Bowdoin’s in the past two weeks as the Polar Bears have not kept up their strong play. We warned about that possibility given how much youth they have. Ben Osterholtz ’19, who had been sensational in his first few starts, finally got roughed up against Bates. The real problem, though, is the lineup is hitting worse and worse. Nobody on the team ranks in the top-25 for either BA or OBP, and as a group they are hitting below the Mendoza line in conference games. That production is not going to be enough for Bowdoin to make a late push to make the playoffs.
9. Williams (6-13, 2-4), Last Ranking: #10
The Ephs kept their slim playoff hopes alive by taking the last game of their series against Amherst because of two runs in the 9th inning. The Amherst starting pitchers shut down Williams in every game, and when their offense struggles, things are extremely difficult for them. Their run differential is much better than that of a 6-13 team, but those types of things are only so helpful at this point in the year. One does have to keep in mind that this is a relatively young team with the every pitcher of importance slated to return next season. Things are frustrating right now for Ephs fans, considering the strength of so many other programs at Williams, but they should be better soon.
10. Colby (5-13, 1-2), Last Ranking: #9
It is impressive that every team in the NESCAC already has a win in conference even though many teams have only played one series. The Mules actually missed a golden opportunity to win the series against Trinity. Tom Forese ’16 outdueled Jed Robinson ’16 in the first game of the series, but ace Soren Hanson ’16 got knocked around in the first game of the doubleheader in what was their best chance to win. If Forese can pitch that well in other weekends then the Mules have the makings of a very dangerous team. I still don’t think they have enough talent on the roster to make any serious noise, but you certainly can’t sleep on them in any given game.
Brendan Fox ’17 is the only consistent weapon right now on a Bates team trying to make its third straight playoff appearance. (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)
It might sound crass to say it so early in the conference season, but Wesleyan, Amherst and Tufts are all going to make the playoffs. I feel very confident saying that, though I hope that somebody proves me wrong. If that is the case, the most intriguing part of the regular season is seeing who gets that second spot out of the East. Bates has grabbed it the past two seasons, but both years they did it with a less than sterling 7-5 record. So who is it going to be in the second spot in the East this year?
This weekend will go a long way towards sorting that out with the four East Division teams besides Tufts meeting in conference series. Trinity (2-1 in conference) travels to Maine to play Colby who has yet to start their conference slate. Bates (0-2) and Bowdoin (1-2) meet in games that could almost eliminate the series loser from the playoff race. Projecting these two series is difficult, but that is what makes it fun.
As always, keep an eye on the weather too. The fields have taken a beating this week, and while the skies look fairly clear for the weekend, play today could be slightly disrupted.
Three to Watch
1. 1B Chad Martin ’16 (Bowdoin): That Polar Bear offense sputtered against Trinity as Bowdoin lost two of three. Martin has to get on track as the star in the middle of the lineup if Bowdoin is going to do well. He has an OBP. below .300 and a slugging percentage less than .400 so things have not gone for the All-NESCAC Second Teamer. The one silver lining is that he has two home runs, and that is a sign that he is still hitting the ball hard at points. My best guess is that he is trying to do too much righ now because he knows how much Bowdoin relies on him. Soooo, maybe not a good idea to put even more pressure on him, especially since I’m a Bowdoin fan. Ehh, whatever. I believe in Martin, and so should you.
2. IF Connor Reenstierma ’16 (Bates): Another offense that sputtered last weekend: that would the Bates Bobcats. What is killing Bates is not that they don’t have one guy doing great. Brendan Fox ’17 is having a fantastic junior season and is batting well above .400. The problem is that every single other guy is hitting well below their capabilities. Reenstierma is a guy that is great at getting on base. Though his batting average is usually much lower, he excels at working the count. Getting on-base alone might not be enough for Bates to get a good offense this weekend, but it would certainly help a lot. Bates is going to have to grind for everything they get all season, and this is the weekend when the grinding has to happen a lot.
3. P Ethan Rode ’17 (Wesleyan): I’m not paying any attention at all to the West, but there is the potential for one of the underdogs in the West to pull a fast one. Wesleyan is HOT right now winning their past seven games. One of the reasons for that is that Rode has gotten back on track. Things went as bad as they could in his first two appearances. Since then, he has delivered three dynamite starts for the Cardinals. In those three starts he has a 1.28 ERA. That should make other NESCAC teams very worried. Wesleyan’s offense has not fallen off from last season, and the possibility of Rode and Peter Rantz ’16 forming a formidable top of the rotation could spell game over.
Colby vs. Trinity Preview
The Bantams series win last weekend has them thinking playoffs, but Trinity won two of three last year against Bowdoin and still finished well outside the playoff race so don’t put too much stock in that. The Mules have struggled mightily so far this season, and there are real questions about the depth of talent on the roster.
You should know that Soren Hanson ’16 is a two-way stud for Colby, and he has been lights out on the mound with a 0.89 ERA in 20.1 IP. The Mules desperately need somebody else to deliver a quality start . I’m also intrigued with how Colby uses Hanson. Do they start him in the nine inning Friday game or save him for Saturday? I prefer pitching him Game 1 on Saturday since it is much more likely that he is able to go all seven than all nine on Friday. Nothing would be worse for the Mules than for Hanson to throw a gem for most of the game Friday, only for the bullpen to blow it late.
Trinity will probably toss Jed Robinson ’16 on Friday and Anthony Egeln ’18 has solidified that second spot. The third starter last week was Chris Speer ’17, and he is likely to start again. The games could easily hinge on an error by either team, and that favors the Bantams. I want to put my faith in the team from Hartford given the track record of that program, but it still isn’t clear if there is a lot of young talent beyond Brendan Pierce ’18. Even so, Colby is very down this year, and I think the Bantams become the frontrunner to get that second spot.
Prediction: Trinity wins two of three
Bowdoin vs. Bates Preview
I’ve already talked a little bit about how both offenses have struggled this season. That means pitching this weekend entails making no mistakes, ala walking a lot of batters or serving up a meatball in the wrong situation.
In this type of situation I give Bates the advantage because of their more experienced pitchers, but Bowdoin is still capable of throwing two seniors in Harry Ridge ’16 and Michael Staes ’16 that have the stuff to shut down a lineup. The weather in Maine is going to be cold and rainy, and that means pitchers have the advantage. Any fly ball is going to die in the air, not to mention the discomfort hitters will experience at the plate.
Both of these programs are solid, but they have not been able to scratch above that upper-middle class status at any point recently. It doesn’t appear that this year is going to be particularly different, and the first weekends games were downright disturbing. At the same time, a lot of talent remains on both of these squads. Sombody young might step up and make the difference, but my money is on old stalwarts like Rob DiFranco ’16 or Sean Mullaney ’17 to be the biggest stars. Bates has more of those players that have been around the block, and I think they keep themselves in the playoff race with a series win this weekend.
This is not a NESCAC baseball field, but it is what some fields looked like because of the weather.
Nothing says “baseball” like six inches of snow, right? Believe it or not, it is spring in the NESCAC. Though we may be trudging through snow and having games canceled because of “inclement weather” (i.e. sudden blizzard in April?!?!), we will be able to see the field by this weekend, and there will be games played on them. The weather can only deprive us of NESCAC baseball (and MLB Opening Day games) for so long.
Braving mercurial weather conditions, the teams played their first of many NESCAC Division series Friday and Saturday (The games between Wesleyan and Colby do not count towards their conference record). While most NESCACs were delaying or postponing weekend matchups, Williams and Middlebury continued to soak up the gorgeous Arizona sun in their first NESCAC West series but have returned to NESCAC turf for the remainder of the season.
STOCK UP
Guys making—or remaking—history
Williams’ pitcher Luke Rodino ’17 and Hamilton’s 1B Andrew Haser ’17 did more than make a good first impression in their NESCAC openers.
Rodino threw a complete-game eight-hitter without walking a single batter. Alone, the accomplishment is pretty nice, but if you consider that no other Eph pitcher has done that in 37 games (i.e. 369 days ago), it’s amazing. As a result, Williams defeated rival Middlebury 8-2, improving their record to 5-8 overall and 1-0 in the NESCAC West. And here’s a fun fact for you: the last time Williams did not walk any batters was also thanks to Rodino’s arm.
If neither his NESCAC Player of the Week nod nor his clutch walk-off have sufficiently marked him as a threat at the plate, Andrew Haser’s ’17 school-record three home runs for Hamilton on Friday will certainly do the trick. The hotshot hit his home runs in consecutive innings against the team from Central Massachusetts; he’s racked up five so far this season, just two short of the program’s single-season mark, and 10 in his collegiate career (three away from yet another school record). At this rate, the junior will have no problem shattering those records before he graduates, let alone this year. I guess you could say he’s having a pretty good start to the season.
The underdogs-of-the-underdogs
It’s time to stop thinking about Middlebury as the team that comes in last in NESCAC standings each season and to start applauding their achievements as they come. The Panthers beat Williams in the final two games of a three-game NESCAC West series this weekend, first by virtue of a 2-1 crazy walk-off and then by a 11-4 tally in Saturday’s nightcap. The team has demonstrated noticeable improvement across the board. John Luke ’16 is Middlebury’s comeback kid: he seems to be making up for three years of mediocre hitting, as he now leads the team and most players in the NESCAC with his .432/.462/.595 slashline. Meanwhile, Jake Turtel ’18 has developed his skills all around, earning the starting 2B position after not playing much at all last season and racking up a .325/.372/.375 combination at bat. Former 2B Brendan Donohue ’18 has proven himself to be quite a wild card, moving around the diamond to LF and even to pitcher and maintaining his hitting reliability with a .320/.393/.400 slashline. Middlebury only committed two errors in three games (compared to Williams’ seven), and that solid command of the field is no doubt a result of diligent team growth.
Middlebury should really be excited by their arsenal of talented rookies. With speed and a strong arm, Sam Graf ’19 is an asset to the outfield with only one error in 12 games, while Spencer Tonies ’19 is making a big impact at shortstop (.441/.474/.559). Behind the plate, Phil Bernstein ’19 has been a great defensive force in the weekend’s games. Their progress may not mean that much right now, but in the long run, investment in the younger players will result in a more competitive team. No, the Panthers aren’t going to take the NESCAC West anytime soon, but if they keep up the good work, they may break free from their cycle of disappointment. Here’s looking at you, kids.
P Cole Dreyfuss ’16 (HAM)
Taking the mound after Hamilton’s 18-8 defeat against Amherst, Cole Dreyfuss ’16 ruled all seven innings of Saturday’s Game One. His imposing two-hitter force not only surprised Amherst but also made them visibly nervous. The senior captain held Amherst hitless for one stretch of 5.2 innings. With this victory, Dreyfuss earned his team-leading third win of the season, which raises his career record to 12-8 (third place on the team’s career wins list).
Although Amherst came out on top in the weekend’s series, winning two of the three games—albeit that the last one stretched into extra innings—Hamilton definitely showed both the flustered Jeffs and the entire NESCAC that the Continentals won’t be beaten without a hard fight. And most of that tenacity this weekend can be credited to Dreyfuss’s fantastic pitching.
STOCK DOWN
Bowdoin’s pitching
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Polar Bears’ early success was due to either hidden talent or mediocre competition, and right now, it’s looking like the latter. There’s no denying that Ben Osterholtz ’19 (0.66 ERA), Connor Rooney (1.13 ERA), and Harry Ridge (2.18 ERA) are good pitchers; Michael Staes ’16 (3.71 ERA) isn’t throwing poorly either. But as a team Bowdoin has only managed to secure a 4.28 ERA and a concerning 5.16 K/G, and when it comes to the NESCAC, that’s just ok. The power we saw—or thought we saw—during spring training has simmered out: it was all relative to the competition the Polar Bears’ faced rather than the competition they would ultimately see in conference games. Luckily, the team has a solid group of pitchers to continually develop over the season.
Colby
No one expects a bottom team to suddenly play a super competitive game against reigning champions, but the Mules had nothing in their favor during their brutal 21-1 loss to Wesleyan on Saturday.
The Mules are hardly poor hitters; with a .312 AVG, they are relatively average in the NESCAC and actually have fewer strikeouts than any other team. At the end of the day, the team just had the misfortune of going up against Peter Rantz ’16 and Nick Miceli ’17, so their failings at the plate are understandable. Determining the efficacy of their defense is more nuanced. In the first game of the DH, Colby had three errors compared to Wesleyan’s zero; in the second, the Mules had six errors compared to the Cardinals’ one. Considering that their .956 FPCT is identical to Amherst’s, it’s hard to say that sloppy defense is the sole culprit for the Mules poor start. Regardless, allowing 21 runs in nine innings—11 in one inning alone—isn’t the work of a stable squad.
Why did Colby give up so many hits? Last weeks’ Pitcher of the Week Soren Hanson ’16 put in a solid 6.1 innings in Game One, holding the Cardinals to just three runs. However, Game Two was basically a pitcher party to which seven different guys showed up. Right now, the team has a collective 9.35 ERA, and when you’re going down the roster for teammates to pitch in your game, you’re not looking at a drastic improvement. Put that ERA up against the most dangerous hitters in the team, and you’ve got Game 2. And that’s just ugly. The Mules can unquestionably improve their work both at the plate and in the field, but their efforts won’t make up for poor pitching. Putting together a more reliable rotation behind Hanson—one that will get your through DH weekends—needs to be Colby’s focus right now.
Amherst’s music selection
You know something’s really bad it the NSN announcer is making fun of it. In this case, he was begging Amherst to turn off the music. Sir, I feel your pain.
My tastes may be limited to 90s rock, but I can say without hesitation that whoever made the playlist for the Amherst-Hamilton series was completely out of their mind. Why would you ever switch back and forth between bubble-gum country and EDM? Or better yet, why would you ever—EVER—play “Let It Go” from Frozen during a baseball game? What happened to good old-fashioned Jock Jams?
Amherst DJ, I have quite an expansive knowledge of said Jock Jams and appropriate pump-up music and would be happy to be of assistance to you. But seriously—what were you thinking?
STOCK WAY DOWN
Mother Nature
Amherst-Hamilton’s nightcap was delayed due to torrential rainfall. All of Sunday’s games were postponed due to inclement weather. And the last two days I’ve woken up to snowfall.
Get your act together, Nature. Spring is for baseball, not building snow forts.
