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MAR.
1-4 — Leafs Open Season With Southern Swing
Goshen
returns with 1-3 record after trip to Tennessee, Kentucky |
Bristol, TN/Williamsburg, KY — In
hindsight, heading south to open the 2005 season proved to be both a
good and a bad idea for the Goshen College baseball program. The good
came in that the squad finally got an opportunity to get out of a heated
gymnasium and play outdoors for the first time this year. The bad came
in that the Leafs’ opposition had already made the most of their
warmer environments, playing as many as 14 intercollegiate competitions
this season before Goshen showed up.
Still, the Leafs were able to take one out of four games on their
week-long road trip, defeating King College (TN) by a 9-8 score to open
the odyssey before falling to Milligan College (TN) in a pair of games
by 1-2 and 5-11 scores and closing the trip with a 0-8 loss to NAIA pre-season
10th-ranked Cumberland College (KY). Given the situation, first-year head
coach Jayson Best said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“For having not been out of the gym yet this year, we really played
decently,” Best said. “It was apparent that our hitters had
not seen live pitching outside, but overall we competed fairly
well against some teams that already had quite a few games under their
belts. We’ll
continue to work hard, but I think we got a glimpse of some positive
things our team did on the field.”
One positive was that Goshen (1-3, 0-0) won its season opener
for the third consecutive year, defeating a King team that entered the
game with a 13-1 overall record. The Leafs benefited from a nine-run second
inning that put the game at a safe distance for the remainder. Junior
Dan Fensler (1-0) picked up the win on the mound, while sophomore Nate
Colclasure, senior Erik Hisner and freshman Mike Staehle led the offensive
charge. Colclasure finished with a double, two RBI and a run scored, while
Hisner was 2-5 on the afternoon with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Staehle, in his first collegiate competition, was 3-4 at the plate with
a pair of runs scored. He was hit by a pitch in his other plate appearance.
“This win was particularly nice since we beat a good team who
had played a lot of games already and we hadn’t even been out of
the gym yet,” Best said. “The conditions were particularly
harsh with temperatures not reaching 40, snow banked up against
the outfield fence and a stiff breeze. Mike Staehle really had a good
start to his
career, reaching base in his first four at bats.”
Facing Milligan in its second day of competition, Goshen couldn’t
get its offense churning as it did in day one. Still, it had its chance
to win the first of two games against the Buffaloes, as the Leafs held
strong with a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning. Unfortunately,
a Milligan hitter singled and then stole second to open the final stanza.
Three batters later, Goshen threw away a ground ball in an attempt to
end the inning, with the Buffaloes taking advantage for the game-winning
run before the ball could be retrieved. Junior Ben Taylor’s (0-1)
tremendous effort on the mound would be lost in the final out.
“Ben threw a great game in his first outing of the season striking
out six and only allowing one earned run in six and two thirds
innings of work,” Best said. “We struggled at the plate all
day. That was the difference.”
Hisner again led Goshen’s offense, generating a double and scoring
a run. In addition to his stellar performance on the hill, Taylor provided
a single, as did junior Greg Koop in his first collegiate at bat.
The Leafs couldn’t contain Milligan’s offense with as much
efficiency in the second game of the afternoon, as the Buffaloes scored
six runs in the first inning to cruise to the 11-5 win. Sophomore Dann
Hunt (0-1) recorded the loss on the mound, while senior Brad Miller went
2-3 from the plate with a run scored. Sophomore Luke Bishop knocked in
a run and scored after singling.
“We let a bad break in game one carry over to game two as we got
off to a bad start and couldn’t recover,” Best said. “We’ll
have to learn from this as we get into conference play later
in the year.”
Goshen was supposed to finish its trip with a contest against
Alice Lloyd College (KY) on Friday, but poor field conditions on the Eagles’ mountainous
campus cancelled that contest. Fortunately for the Leafs, Cumberland College
was looking for a game, and Goshen made a quick stop in Williamsburg,
Kentucky. Unfortunately for Goshen, the squad had to face the top pitcher
on the 10th-ranked Patriots team en route to a 0-8 loss.
“Cumberland hadn’t played for a couple of days and we ran
into their top pitcher,” Best said. “I felt like we competed
with a very high caliber team. If we would have gotten a break or two
we could have
been in a position to put a lot of pressure on them with the
rally we had in the seventh inning.”
In that stanza, Goshen received singles from Colclasure, senior
Josh Snyder, sophomore Brian Shelton and freshman Tom McDowell. Unfortunately,
the Leafs could not turn that surge into runs on the scorebard.
“We will get back to trying to improve both in the batting cages
and in the field, and we’ll see what happens,” Best said. “At
this time of year, you can never be too sure of when exactly
you’ll
play again, so we’ll try to stay prepared and focused.”
Goshen is slated to next compete at Kalamazoo College on Saturday,
after the team’s initial home game against Concordia University
was cancelled due to inclement weather. Weather permitting, the Leafs
will face off against the Hornets at 1 p.m.
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 Senior
Erik Hisner
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