Sports

Garnet first-years come up big in baseball Vassar split

Garnet-first-years-come-up-big-in-baseball-vassar-split

Jake Mrozewski | The Phoenix

Zach Weiner practices with the baseball team in the Lamb Miller Fieldhouse.

In print | March 5, 2009

Swarthmore baseball began its 2009 campaign with an opening day doubleheader against Vassar on Saturday. Behind strong pitching by Neil Mejia ’11, Swarthmore claimed the early game 6-4, its first victorious opener in nine years. In the second game, however, the Garnet stranded nine runners on base while the Brewers capitalized on their opportunities and split the doubleheader with a 4-1 win.

In the first game, Swarthmore jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first inning. Michael Waterhouse ’12, who led off the inning with a single, scored on a Wiley Archibald ’10 sacrifice fly. In the next at-bat, Jimmy Gill ’10 doubled to left field, knocking in Anthony Montalbano ’12. Spencer Ross ’12 scored the final run of the inning when Ben Schneiderman ’11 singled to center field.
Vassar closed the deficit to one run in the top of the fourth, but the Garnet answered in the bottom half of the inning with two runs, made possible after a costly fielding error by the Vassar shortstop prolonged the inning. The Brewers pulled to within one again in the sixth inning. The Garnet committed an error of their own and, Vassar took advantage of it, scoring two unearned runs to bring the score to 5-4.

Swarthmore responded with an insurance run in the bottom of the inning, but closer Ignacio Rodriguez ’12 did not need it. After allowing a walk, he retired the next three Brewers and collected the save. Mejia also excelled in his first appearance of the season, earning the win with six strong innings pitched. He struck out five while only allowing one earned run and issuing no walks.
Mejia also enjoyed plentiful run support, of which the Garnet pitchers in the late game did not have the luxury. There were opportunities to put runs on the board, but Swarthmore hitters left nine men on base. Head Coach Stan Exeter identified this problem as an area for improvement. “We need to execute a little better with runners in scoring position,” he said. “Their team made some big plays when they needed to and we couldn’t.”

The Garnet’s lone run came in the second inning when Matt Lamb ’12 grounded out to the second baseman. Michael Cameron ’12 had tripled to lead off the inning and scored to tie the game at 1-1. Over the next five innings, the Brewers added three more runs and kept Swarthmore base runners from crossing the plate.

Lamb was enthusiastic about the RBI in his first college at-bat, but he recognized the need to improve both sides of the team’s game. “It was great being able to get out there so early in the year,” he said, but added, “we threw a lot of balls and walked a lot of guys, and we need to see a lot more pitches and make their pitchers work harder to get us out. It’s gonna come.”

As catcher in the second game, Lamb took partial responsibility for the seven walks issued, but he is still learning the system, like many talented first-years that saw action on Saturday. Led by Waterhouse and Cameron, the new additions displayed their potential in both games, scoring five of the team’s seven runs and accounting for three of the six runs batted in.
Co-captain Conor Casey ’09, who leads the Garnet in games played, indicated the addition of the first-years as the greatest source of improvement from last season. “The main thing is that we have a lot more depth in the infield and the pitching rotation,” he said.

Exeter agreed that the increased depth is pivotal because it allows flexibility. “We added 14 more faces so we can move people around and put them in the right places to succeed,” he said.
Both captain and coach were pleased with the team’s performance against Vassar, but both recognized there is “a lot of room for improvement.” An upcoming spring break trip to Arizona should give the squad some time to tinker with the lineup and shake off the rust before the conference schedule begins in three weeks.

“I’m really excited,” Lamb said. “The weather’s going to be great, and there’ll be a lot of team camaraderie. We’ll get our pitchers throwing and our bats going again and just get back into the groove.”

With a strong first-year class, the Garnet look to build on last year, when they finished with the most wins in nine years. Exeter and Casey are optimistic about the team’s prospects. Exeter wants his squad “to be very competitive every game.” “I don’t think this program has had that attitude in the past,” he said. “If we do, I think it will be a very successful season.” Casey has his eyes on the Centennial Conference playoffs. After years of mediocrity, he aspires “to get Swarthmore baseball out of the Centennial baseball cellar.” After starting out the season with a win, the team is on its way.