CHRISTINA CONCEICAO
Special to The Leader
Though it may not feel like spring, baseball season is finally on the horizon as Fredonia’s Blue
Devils baseball team has started to prepare for their rapidly approaching season. They will be opening
their season this year against the SUNY Purchase Panthers on March 8 at SUNY Purchase. Last year, the Panthers had a record of 12-24, while the Blue Devils had a record of 13-22.
“I know Westbury’s preseason is in the top twenty or twenty-five, and I think they led the nation in stolen bases last year, so that will be a great test,” said Head Coach Matt Palisin. “St. Josephs’ is also a great program. We actually played them a few years ago in Florida and had some success against them, and, overall, they are just solid teams. There are a number of SUNYAC teams in our conference – I think there are four or five of them – that are playing. Four or five of their conference teams is something one of the coaches set up called the SUNYAC challenge, where we are taking on the Skyline Conference team, so we kind of need to see how our conference stacks up against their conference.
”The Blue Devils are looking to have a strong season this year with most of their team returning as veterans and wasting no time getting right to business.
“Our practices have gone differently this year. Usually, the first week or two is just conditioning
and, this year, we got right into baseball,” said senior starting catcher Brian Sheehan, who is also one of five captains on the team. “And, this year, we are starting earlier, so we are starting our baseball practices earlier and then we just have to scout them online, which is a big part of myself and my coaches to do.”
Like any sports team, after every season, the Blue Devils try to improve on what they could have done better.“Our biggest area of improvement is our pitching. We had a very young staff last year; we had a number of freshmen that pitched quite a bit and a number of sophomores,” said Palisin. “Heading into this year we really only lost one starter to graduation. We didn’t pitch up to our capabilities last year, that is kind of what I focus on as a head coach, I work in different
areas with the team, but I have just taken over the pitching staff for the largest extend and turned the rest over to Dan (Greco). Dan, knowing them and having played with them, helps so they know the routine and what it takes to win.”
As the starting catcher, Sheenan commented about his expectations for the pitchers this season.
“This season, I expect them to have more complete games. Last year, their endurance was not very
strong; that is a big focus for them right now,” he said. “They are getting worked out pretty hard by our
new pitching coach. Hopefully, that will help them.”
Dan Greco is the one starter that the team lost to graduation, however, he stayed with the team and is now the assistant coach. When asked about being able to separate his on and off the field relationship with the team, Greco said, “It is certainly interesting in the beginning kind of navigating that we told them the first day at practice. That, at practice and at games, I am their coach and, outside of that, obviously, we are still friends. That relationship doesn’t go away, but just so they understand that, during practice time and during baseball time, it is all business.”
For more information about how the baseball team is doing this preseason, visit the team’s online blog, which is featured on their athletics page.