Florida Trip

Like every spring break to Florida the mindset is to get rid of all the cob-webs and get ready for the conference games. This year’s trip was very different then in the past because we needed to prepare ourselves much quicker. For the first time we had three conference games in Florida, and our main goal was to win those three games against Fredonia. We opened our season against Baruch College, and right off the bat we had our first heart breaker. From the beginning the Cardinal bats were hot and it looked like we were in mid season form. In the first inning we jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Baruch countered with a five run inning, but we followed their attack with a six runs. It wasn’t until late in the game were Baruch scored five unanswered runs to win 10-8. This was a tough opening game for us all, but it showed us that you can never let your foot off the pedal. Our bats were on fire early in the game and then we got satisfied with our lead which let Baruch steal a win from us. In the night cap the Cards had a strong pitching performance from Bobby Piser. He threw a complete game and shut the door on Baruch. This was a huge win for us; Bobby stepped up and made sure we were going to split on opening day.

The next few days we played against St. Josephs, Gettysburg and Principia College. The Cards once again salvaged a split against a strong St. Joes team. The first game we were dominated by St. Joe’s starting pitcher and fell 8-1. In the second game we responded by clubbing 16 hits, 5 different cards had multiple hits and Marc Plante threw five solid innings. This was plenty enough offense to get the win as the final score was 12-5. The following day we dropped two games against Gettysburg College. Once again the first game was a heart breaking loss. We took the lead in the 6th inning and then gave it back in the 7th to lose the game 5-4. The second game wasn’t a pretty one as we lost 9-1; I truly believe the pain from the first game carried over to the next game. The final warm up games before our conference series against Fredonia was Principia. We had a great performance by Kyle Kelly pitching a complete game and giving up no earned runs. Sadly our bats were dead and most of us didn’t look awake for the game. We ended up losing a very winnable game 2-1. After this loss coach Doorey had seen enough from the starters and decided to give the new guys and chance. This worked out very well for the Cards as the new guys took full advantage of their opportunity winning the game 11-8.

In our first conference game you could feel the tension in the air because we all knew how important these games are. Bobby Piser was given the ball and he pitched 7 innings before leaving the game with a 3-3 tie. The game would stay locked at 3-3 until Fredonia exploded for 7 runs in the final two innings. After dropping the first game to Fredonia, it was a must that we won the next game. By winning the next game it would still put us in the position to win the series. In Game 2, Tyler Greene pitched a complete game only allowing 4 hits. The rest of the team rode off his dominate pitching performance by scoring eight runs and wining 8-1. In the Game 3 rubber match we jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Fredonia managed to crawl its way back into the game. The game was a nail bitter all the way to till the end until we scrapped across two late runs to beat Fredonia 8-7. Mike Doughtie pitched four scoreless innings in relief holding Fredonia off giving us the win. Like every conference series the stress and nerves were high and it was great to see that under all of this pressure we could perform and win the series.

After winning two out of three from Fredonia the Cards ended the Florida trip winning six straight. The final two days we swept Lakeland and Lasell College. The trip ended on a high note as coach Doorey collected his 200th win. I’d also like to congratulate Jake Oswald, Tommy Verdino, Mike Mulvihill, Pedro Gonzalez, Chris Pescetti, Mike Vargues, Matt Meunier, Jimmy Rosario, Brain Latulipe and Nick Lupo on their first career hit. Florida was fun and exciting and I believe that this year’s trip was a successful one. We had our hiccups and mistakes but that’s the whole point of traveling to Florida. We were lucky enough to be put in situations which will help us later in the season. Our hopes are that we will learn from our mistakes in Florida and be ready for them in conference play. Thanks for following us and I hope to see you in the stands cheering LETS GO CARDS!