Photo by Corey Maher
QUINTIN JAMES
Special to The Leader
Coming off of a successful Myrtle Beach visit where it went 3-1, the Fredonia men’s baseball team came back home to try to continue its early season success. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils dropped their first two games.
This season, the Blue Devils have high expectations: making the playoffs for SUNYACs.
They started off the season right in South Carolina, but the real task was staying on track. The key for this team to grow is for the returning players to blossom into bigger roles and to produce on a daily basis.
There were many changes in the offseason for the Blue Devils, and chemistry was a big question heading into the season. But so far, the chemistry has been high and the team seems to be gelling quickly.
Two returning players looking to have a bigger impact this year are sophomores Bailey Gauthier and Steve Zaprowski. Both coming off up-and-down freshman years, these two position players are looking to improve the team and maybe make a run at a championship this year.
During the offseason, they both tried to become better players.
“I hit the weight room a lot in the offseason just trying to get stronger and hit the ball with more power to all fields,” said Zaprowski.
Switching from pitcher to outfield this year, Zaprowski said it wasn’t a huge change for him and mentioned that he wants to do everything in this power to see this team win. This year his goal is to drive the ball more to the gaps and use his speed to get on base and help his teammates drive him in.
Gauthier, who plays both pitcher and shortstop, is coming into his own and he is a key piece on this Fredonia men’s baseball team.
“I also was in the weight room in the offseason too. Trying to get more power in my swing and more arm strength for when I pitch,” said Gauthier.
For Gauthier, the mental game is something he works on every day. Being a pitcher and a shortstop, he has to have a different mentality every time he steps on the diamond.
“I have to make sure I’m focused at all times. In order to be great, I have to be confident and have the same dominant mentality at all times,” said Gauthier.
Photo by Corey Maher
The Blue Devils started this week on the road where they faced the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers. The Blue Devils used seven pitchers and dropped the game 7-3. Senior pitcher Carl Wolf started the game, going two innings while giving up one run. Junior pitcher Zach Lyman took the loss going two innings giving up three runs.
On offense, senior outfielder Quinn Danahy and junior third baseman Liam Kelly each had three hits each, while freshman outfielder Rob Wiegand had a pair of hits. The Blue Devils were outhit 16-11 and couldn’t stop the Tigers’ offense.
After a couple of days off, the Blue Devils were back at it again on the with a road trip to Allegheny College. The Gators defeated the Blue Devils with a score of 12-2.
Senior pitcher Zachary Jordon took the loss going three innings giving up seven runs on 11 hits. His replacement, freshman pitcher Luke Kuczewski, pitched three innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits.
On offense sophomore catcher Patrick Sheehan had two singles, while junior first baseman Michael Prentice and freshman Kevin Yirinec smacked two doubles each. Allegheny had 20 hits in this game off of four Blue Devils pitchers.
The Blue Devils were down 7-0 but even after scoring two runs, they couldn’t make any headway as the offense was just not coming together.
Coming up for the Blue Devils is a trip to Central Florida to participate in the RussMatt Invitational. Thursday begins their nine-game trip when they meet Hamilton in a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. in Winter Haven, Florida. The trip will include a three-game SUNYAC game series with Oswego.
Tags: Sports, Baseball, NCAA, Division III, Blue Devils, Fredonia