JOSHUA ANDRZEJEWSKI
Special to The Leader
Spring came early for a lucky few Fredonia State students. The Blue Devils baseball team managed to escape
Chautauqua County’s late resurgence of winter weather when they embarked on a trip to the more favorable climes
of Orlando, Florida to get the 2013 season underway.
The Blue Devils have dealt with frustrating weather fluctuations already this year. After enduring a seven hour
bus ride to Long Island, the team faced early adversity when they were informed that their Long Island series would be cancelled due to inclement weather. Discouraged, the team made their return trip early the next morning with the knowledge that their season would be four games shorter than previously expected.
By the next week, a game against St. John Fisher had been postponed and another, slated to be played at Geneva
of Pennsylvania, had been cancelled outright. Despite this inauspicious start to their season, the Blue Devils are poised to make some noise in SUNYAC after stitching together some encouraging outings in the Sunshine State.
It is only fitting that this trip went better than the first. This second trip was, in many ways, the polar opposite of that Long Island debacle. The seven-hour bus ride was replaced by a three-hour flight, the cancellations were replaced by quality baseball and the oppressive snow was replaced by uninterrupted above-freezing temperatures. In fact, three of their six days there were marked by highs of 80 degrees.
While in Florida, Fredonia State split a doubleheader with U-Mass Dartmouth on Mar. 21 and one with Plattsburgh
State on the Mar. 22, defeating Plattsburgh in a nine-inning game the next day. After a day off, they dropped one to a very tough Freed-Hardemann squad which is coming off a 27-5-1 season.
Encouragingly, this was followed up by a four-game win streak that came at the expense of Houghton and Thomas (Maine) in doubleheaders on consecutive days. Unfortunately, the trip ended on a sour note with a one-run loss to Colby College. This did not deter the Blue Devils who swept another doubleheader with a combined margin of victory of 21 to 6 upon returning to the Empire State in Medaille’s own backyard. This should set them up nicely for their next league contest which will be played at home against Brockport on April 2.
Although their diaspora to the south may evoke notions of essentially meaningless spring ball akin to Major League
Baseball’s Grapefruit or Cactus Leagues, the RussMatt Invitational provided the Devils with some stiff regular
season competition, including three of their 16 scheduled league games. These three games represented their season
series against division rival Plattsburgh who won last year’s series two games to one, including a seven run decision and a presumably more disheartening one-run victory in which the Devils had a man in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. There is little wonder then that their itinerary for this year’s trip included the title, “Pay Back Plattsburgh.” This reminiscent nomenclature certainly yielded Coach Palisin’s desired outcome as the Devils have improved on the results of last year’s Plattsburgh matchups by taking two of three games. The importance of this matchup was summed up by Tommy Morris, who described the win in this series as “a great way to kick off the season.”
This reversal of fortunes was helped by the efforts of senior pitcher Zachary Hugg. Hugg started the final game
against Plattsburgh with great returns for his team. Through a full nine innings of work on March 23, he scattered six hits and surrendered just one walk en route to a shutout. Though not overpowering, Hugg recorded four strikeouts including dramatic back-to-back Ks to end the game and clinch the Blue Devils victory in their first division series of the season.
Hugg really shined in getting the ground ball. His two- seam fastball, otherwise known as the “sinker” proved to
be too much for the opposition as “Plattsburgh hitters just beat it into the ground all night.”
In this throwback performance 18 of the team’s 27 outs came by way of ground-outs, making his supporting cast’s roles much easier. Hugg was sure to give credit where (some of) it is due, lauding the defense for making “all the plays” and complimenting catcher Brian Sheehan for deftly calling a mix of the two-seam and Hugg’s circle change.
Now that, as Crash Davis of “Bull Durham” would say, is some democratic baseball.
Fans can anticipate a potential run from this upper- classmen-laden team. Furthermore, Hugg’s first outing of
the season, which earned him SUNYAC Pitcher of the Week honors, is a great indication of why this could be a very interesting season in Fredonia. It serves to show that this team has gelled well. Pitchers can count on their teammates to provide both capable defense and run support.
Case in point, Ian Gallagher, Connor Lorenzo, Matt Casilio, Kenny Johnston, Brian Sheehan, Dan Fetes, Bobby Frantz, John Bennett and Dillon Lowe have reached double digits in hits. Johnston might as well have spoken for everyone when he credited his experience and offseason conditioning for his hitting prowess. Knowing “what to expect now at the plate and what pitches will come” combined with a “bat speed [that] has increased due to [weight]lifting” have helped Johnston already surpass his hit total from last year while he sits third on the team in batting average with a .406. Eric Krohl contributed with good defense in the middle of the infield while Kyle Grey threw nine scoreless innings of relief and Zach Jordon converted on two save opportunities.
The 9-4 Blue Devils have veteran leadership in spades to go along with plenty of talent: 20 out of 30 players are in either the junior or senior class and this early season road trip showed that the bats are lively and the arms are rested. With spring hopefully here to stay, Fredonia State is built to win now. With fully one-third of the team set to graduate, there are undoubtedly plenty of championship aspirations in Fredonia.
Their next contest is against Brockport on April 3, weather permitting.